In the wake of the recent arrest of eight persons who conspired to kill Excise and Tourism Minister V Srinivas Goud, the Telangana Police have further strengthened his security.
Mr. Goud, who was accompanying Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao in his trip to New Delhi and Jharkhand, was given the extra security on his arrival in the city on Friday evening.
Confirming the development, a senior police officer said that security has been beefed up for the Minister.
“He is a VIP and his previous and current security details cannot be revealed, especially when a gang which conspired to kill him with firearms, was arrested by the Cyberabad police recently,” the officer said.
He said the decision was taken after closely verifying and analysing the threat perception to the VIP. Even the Chief Minister’s Office was informed about the decision.
“Even though there were no shortcomings in the previous security, we have beefed up the security in the context of existing threat perception,” the officer said.
The Minister, who represents Mahabubnagar constituency, was also advised to cancel his avoidable meetings and programmes for time being.
The accused, Raghavender Raju along with seven others, was arrested by the Cyberabad police on Wednesday for plotting a plan to kill the Minister who was allegedly responsible for bringing financial loss to him.
Even in his confession statement, the accused stated that Mr. Goud was responsible for his divested financial situation, and also tormented him and his family and caused legal and financial problems to curtail his political and financial growth. More than two dozen criminal and excise cases were booked against Raju since 2017 and his Aadhaar enrolment centre and liquor business suffered losses, the statement said.
