Hyderabad
A day after former MP of Mahabubnagar and BJP leader A.P. Jitender Reddy claimed that four of his associates were kidnapped from his South Avenue residence in Delhi, on Wednesday evening, Cyberabad police in a dramatic manner declared that it was their sleuths who picked up those four persons and busted an alleged conspiracy to kill Telangana Minister V Srinivas Goud.
Prior to police declaring the conspiracy, family members of the arrested persons raised suspicion and questioned the credibility of the charges levelled by the Cyberabad police.
Commissioner of Police M Stephen Raveendra said that it was Jitender Reddy’s associates – Madhusudhan Raju and Amarender Raju – who tried to engage supari killers and promised to pay them ₹15 crore if they kill the Minister. Both, Jitender Reddy and Srinivas Goud hail from Mahabubnagar district.
“We are still verifying the role of former MP in the conspiracy. His personal assistant Raju and driver Thapa provided shelter to Manuru Ravi, Madhusudhan Raju, Raghavender Raju at Mr. Reddy’s residence in Delhi,” he said. They went to Delhi from Mahabubnagar via Vishakapatnam, the officer said.
According to Mr. Raveendra, the former MP’s PA Raju contacted one Farooq, who had a criminal history, to ‘kill’ Mr Goud or get him in touch with someone who can execute the job, and promised to pay ₹15 crore.
Farooq was frightened and shared the conspiracy with his friend Hyder Ali. When Raju and others came to know that Farooq leaked their plan, they decided to eliminate both Farooq and Ali, he said.
“Raju’s associates Yadaiah, Nagaraj and Vishwanath kept a watch on Farooq and Ali and on the February 25, when the duo was having tea near Suchitra, they chased them with knives to kill them,” the Commissioner said. However, Farooq and Ali managed to escape and around 5 p.m. they approached Pet-Basheerabad police and lodged a complaint. Based on their complaint, the trio – Nagaraj, Yadaiah and Vishwanath– were taken into custody.
During the interrogation, Nagaraj told police that Raghavender Raju and others hatched a conspiracy to kill Mr. Goud, and as their plan got leaked they told him to eliminate Farooq and Ali, the officer said.
Based on his confession, police started to trace the location of Ravi, Madhusudhan and Raghavender and found that they had taken shelter in Mr. Reddy’s residence (servant quarters) in Delhi, Mr.Stephen said. They were served notices before they were brought to Hyderabad in connection with the conspiracy, Mr.Stephen added .
“They were planning to assassinate the Minister. We have all the technical and scientific evidence to prove it. However, the role of other persons is yet to be established,” the officer added.
Police recovered a 9 mm pistol with two live rounds and a country-made revolver with six rounds from the possession of the accused, the CP said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jitender Reddy said that charges levelled against the arrested persons were baseless and he provided ‘accommodation’, not ‘shelter’ to accused Ravi.
