Gangster, Former Naxal Nayeemuddin Killed By Police

Gangster and former naxalite Mohammed Nayeemuddin, wanted in over 100 criminal cases including the murder in 1993 of senior IPS officer K S Vyas, was killed in an encounter with a police Greyhounds team in Shadnagar town of the Mahbubnagar district in Telangana.

Speaking to the media after investigating the area of the shoot-out this morning, Mahbubnagar district Superintendent Of Police Rama Rajeshwari said that upon receiving a tip-off, the police stopped a white Ford Endeavour in the Millennium Township. The driver of the vehicle, instead of stopping, started firing at the police from inside, prompting them to return fire. The driver then ran away from the car, and a passenger got off and took cover behind a transformer and continued to wage a gun-battle. The cops eventually killed him.

An AK-47 was recovered from the body. The Ford Endeavour that was registered in the name of a Vaddepalli Narsing Rao.

The SP said that the deceased was notorious gangster Nayeemuddin, wanted in over 50 cases of murder, extortion and illegal land settlements. He had stayed elusive for a long time.

Rajeshwari also said that officials of her department had surrounded an apartment in Narsingi in the Old City in search of Nayeemuddin's wife and other family members, who are still at large.

The gangster, also known as "Nayeem", was reportedly staying at the house of a person named Basha in the Millennium Township in Shadnagar along with ten of his minions. He was the principal accused in the murders of former Maoist Sambasivudu, Konapuri Ramulu, Patolla Govardhan Reddy, and Civil Liberties Rights leaders Purushotham and Ajeem.

Nayeemuddin is known to have joined the Radical Students' Union in 1989. He was arrested for the first time in 1991 for anti-State activities, and upon getting bail in a few weeks, joined the PWG. On January 27, 1993, as part of the PWG, Nayeem was involved in the sensational murder of senior IPS officer Vyas, the founder of Greyhounds, in cold-blood, and was arrested by the police in less than a month. He was released on bail in May 2000, but arrested again later that year for killing a Naxal sympathiser.

With the help of a senior IPS officer, Nayeem operated a gang right from jail in the following years, indulging in land-grabbing activities on the outskirts of Hyderabad for the officer, and also helping the police to capture naxalites. Nayeem was also famous for his role in the Sohrabuddin - Kauser Bi encounter - he led the couple into the hands of the police.

In 2007, Nayeem escaped from prison and turned full-fledged gangster, and concentrated on extorting money from businessmen and politicians. It was this extortion from TRS MLAs and even ministers lately that is said to have triggered an enhanced effort to neutralize him, under orders right from KCR. Two TRS MLAs had reportedly complained against Nayeem for his extortion threats and illegal real estate deals in the districts of Mahabubnagar and Nalgonda.