A LITANY OF KILLINGS
April 2000
The erstwhile Andhra Pradesh police kill Azam Ghori, a Pakistani ISI agent, in Jagtial, Karimnagar district
November 2002
Dacoits K. Satyanarayana and Sammaiah are killed in an encounter at Palamakula, in former Ranga Reddy district
March 2004
Alleged criminal Ch. Venugopal is shot dead in an encounter near Ammuguda, Secunderabad
May 2008
The gangster Aziz Reddy is gunned down at Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad
July 2008
Extortionist G. Suresh is shot dead in an encounter near Begumpet
December 10, 2008
In an incident that took place on International Human Rights Day, three youths who had allegedly attacked two female college students in Warangal with acid are killed in an encounter following a state-wide uproar over the attack. The police say they opened fire in selfdefence, killing the three during an attempted escape. Cyberabad police commissioner V.C. Sajjanar—in whose jurisdiction the Chatanpally killings took place—was superintendent of police at Warangal at the time
April 4, 2015
Two members of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Aslam Ayub and Ejazuddin, part of a gang that escaped from Khandwa prison in Madhya Pradesh in 2013, are killed in an encounter with police at Janakipuram in Suryapet, with a police constable also dying in the event. This encounter followed the killing of two police officers on April 2 by the same two SIMI members
April 7, 2015
Five suspected SIMI associates—including Vikaruddin Ahmed, accused of the murder of two police personnel—are killed while being transported in a bus from Warangal jail to Hyderabad for a court hearing. Police claim the five men, who were handcuffed at the time, attacked the 17 police personnel guarding them and attempted to seize their weapons, and that the guards who shot them dead were acting ‘in self defence’. Civil rights activists allege this was a staged encounter, and that the five were killed to avenge the deaths of police officers at Suryapet (see above)
April 7, 2015
Police shoot dead 20 lumber smugglers in the Seshachalam forests of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. The men, part of a crew smuggling red sander logs (a prized tree species), were killed after they allegedly attacked a police company
August 2016
Possibly the most sensational incident until the Chatanpally killings, police shoot dead Mohammed Nayeemuddin, an ex-Naxalite gangster and police informer linked to the Sohrabuddin case