The Greyhounds’ last leap

The bullet struck N.V. Satya Srinivas Rao in the chest. His bulletproof jacket stopped it, but the impact knocked his rifle from his hands and sent him to the ground.

Then came the second shot. This time, the bullet found a gap in the jacket. It entered Rao’s abdomen from the left side, tore through his body and exited on the other side.

It was November 30, 1992. Rao, then 26 and barely a year into the Andhra Pradesh Police, had entered a house in Baddepalli in erstwhile Karimnagar district with three other Greyhounds personnel. They were hunting a group of Naxals belonging to the Chandra Pulla Reddy group. Five bodies already lay scattered around the house.