Hyderabad, Oct 23 : Rachakonda Police on Thursday arrested three accused for the attack on a Gau Rakshak Dal activist on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

Bidla Prashanth Kumar alias Sonu Singh, 28, was injured when a man who is into the cattle transport business opened fire on him near Yamnampet, Ghatkesar, on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Wednesday evening.

Mohammad Ibrahim Qureshi, 24, who had opened fire, Kuruva Srinivas, 29, and Hassanbin Mosin, 22, were arrested in the early hours of Thursday at Shamshabad. Another accused, Mohammad Haneef Qureshi, 34, is absconding.

While Ibrahim and Mosin are in the cattle transport business, Srinivas is a farmer.

Rachakonda Police Commissioner G. Sudheer Babu told media persons that they arrested the accused within 12 hours.

Police seized one country-made pistol, a car and three cell phones from the accused. Two cartridges (5 mm diameter) were recovered from the crime scene. A pellet removed from the injured man's body at a hospital was also recovered.

A case under sections 109, 61(2) r/w 3(5) BNS and section 25(1)(a), 27 of the Arms Act has been registered at Pocharam IT Corridor Police Station.

Prashanth told police that he was called to the location by his friend Srinivas. Prasant said he met Srinivas along with Ibrahim, Haneef Qureshi, and Hassan bin Mosin.

The accused confronted him for "exposing" their illegal cattle transportation, and in the ensuing argument, Ibrahim took out a gun from his car and shot Prashanth in the right side of the chest before fleeing.

Investigation revealed the motive was dual retaliation against the victim, who caused an estimated Rs 1 crore loss to Ibrahim by intercepting his cattle-transporting vehicles, and potential conflict arising from the victim's alleged demand for Rs 5 lakh to cease his activities.

The swift action by the police in shifting the injured/victim to the hospital by the Patrol Mobile and Blue Colt officers has helped the injured person save his life, and also the accused were arrested within no time by the formation of special teams in coordination with all the wings, the Police Commissioner said.

Due to Prashanth's intervention, five cases were registered against the accused previously, which led to the seizure of vehicles.

The cases were registered at different police stations under the Telangana State Prohibition of Cow Slaughter and Animal Preservation Act and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

An extortion case was also registered against Ibrahim in 2022 at Kamatipura Police Station.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders led by the party's state unit president were detained by police when they staged a protest outside the office of the Director General of Police. The BJP staged a protest against the firing on a Gau Rakshak Dal activist.

The police whisked away the BJP leaders and workers in vehicles.

/IANS