Agnipath Protests: One Killed, Several Injured In Police Firing At Secunderabad Station

HYDERABAD: One person died and several others were injured after the Railway police opened fire to disperse the violent mob which went out of control at the Secunderabad Railway Station on Friday who were protesting against the central government’s Armed Forces recruitment scheme ‘Agnipath’.

The deceased was identified as Damodara Rakesh who hailed from Warangal, while Mahesh, Mohan Kumar and Srikanth suffered bullet injuries.

The Railway Police and the Hyderabad police troops had used lathi-charge and force to disperse the protestors. As they had not paid heed to their warnings the police were forced to open about 15 rounds of fire and tear gas shells. A person was injured and was shifted to a hospital for treatment, where he was declared dead. Several police constables were also injured in the stone-pelting and arson that started at 9 am in the morning.

Meanwhile, tension continued to prevail in the Secunderabad Railway Station where protestors continued to occupy train tracks at the station leading to tension. Several trains and Hyderabad MMTS trains were cancelled over the Agnipath protests today.

Railway DG Sandeep Shandilya and other senior officials reached the spot and are monitoring the situation are speaking to the protestors and are in the process of normalizing the situation there.

Widespread protests in other parts of the country, especially Bihar, on Thursday and Friday demanding the Centre to roll back the 'Agnipath' scheme, unveiled by the Ministry of Defence as a pan-India merit-based recruitment scheme for enrolling soldiers, airmen and sailors. Under the scheme, young persons will be provided with an opportunity to serve in the armed forces as 'Agniveer' for a period of four years, including a training period.

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