HYDERABAD, Sept 23: A police constable was killed while another kidnapped Hindu trader, who suffered bullet injuries, was recovered by the police in an encounter in the jurisdiction of the Umer Sand police on Sunday night.

Reports said that police constable Nabi Bux Lashari, resident of Shahdadpur, was shot dead by the bandits when he reached, by crawling, near their hideout in a sugarcane field.

Sensing danger, the outlaws fired at the place where they noted some movement, which resulted in the death of Lashari.

A kidnapped man, Mahesh Kumar, who had sustained bullet injuries on his right shoulder, was recovered by the police after the bandits fled under the cover of darkness.

The police claimed that search continued on Monday morning in the sugarcane field, said to be owned by a former MPA, Abdul Ghani Dars.

DPO, Hyderabad, A.D. Khawaja, told newsmen at the local civil hospital that the sugarcane crop on 100 acres was being cut for the search of the kidnappers.

He said that the police had to wait for the bandits’ movement because had the police resorted to indiscriminate firing, it might have resulted in the death of the third kidnap victim.

Reports said that more than two dozen persons, including the manager of Dars, had been detained by the police for interrogation.

The DPO said that the police had reports that the suspects had been providing shelter and food to the bandits.

He said that the encounter followed as police went to the area after two hostages, who were released on payment of ransom, told they were kept there.

A police spokesman said that two dacoits had suffered bullet injuries. The DPO claimed that the gang of Badal Kerio was involved in the kidnapping.