Hyderabad: A day after former Mahabubnagar MP Jithender Reddy, now with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claimed that four men were “kidnapped” from his residence in New Delhi’s South Avenue, the Telangana Police said the men were “arrested” for an alleged murder conspiracy against state excise and tourism minister Srinivas Goud.
They had denied arresting the men from Delhi earlier.
Minister Goud, a member of the ruling party Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), is an MLA representing the Mahabubnagar constituency. Jithender Reddy was the MP from Mahabubnagar when he was with TRS, but later quit the party and joined the BJP in 2019.
The Cyberabad Police in Telangana have arrested eight men in relation to the alleged murder conspiracy. Four of them, who were arrested from the ex-MP’s house in Delhi and brought to Hyderabad, are Raghavender Raju, Munnuru Ravi, Madhusudhan Raju and Amarender Raju.
The police have recovered a 9mm pistol from Raghavender Raju and a revolver from Munnuru Ravi.
The four were staying in the servants’ quarters in Reddy’s Delhi house, according to Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Ravindra.
“The shelter and travel for the four men were arranged by the ex-MP’s personal assistant Raju,” Ravindra said late Wednesday.
Reddy’s driver ‘Thapa’ — who also gave shelter to the accused — was taken into custody too, said the police.
“The four men travelled from Mahabubnagar to Visakhapatnam and then to Delhi. Initially, we did not know their location, but once we tracked it, we found they were in the ex-MP’s property in South Avenue. We even gave them notices under Section 160 of the CrPC, arrested them and got them to Hyderabad,” Ravindra said in a press meet Wednesday.
The police also said they’re probing if BJP leader Reddy had any role in the alleged conspiracy.
Former MP Reddy, who joined the BJP in 2019, alleged Tuesday that the four men — Thapa, his driver of eight years, former student politician and social activist Munnuru Ravi, and two other unnamed guests — were “kidnapped” from his residence. Munnuru and the unnamed guests were staying at Reddy’s Delhi residence since 26 February. The MP also tweeted that he had filed a complaint with the Delhi Police.
On the basis of the complaint lodged by Reddy’s personal assistant, a case of kidnapping was registered at the South Avenue police station, New Delhi district, against unidentified persons.
Reddy, who had called the alleged murder plan a ‘joke’ and a ‘political conspiracy’ earlier, said Wednesday that he would move the Telangana High Court over the matter.
Also read: 4 men ‘kidnapped’ from ex-MP’s house, Delhi Police claim Telangana cops did it, they deny it
CCTV footage showed men in plain clothes taking the men
CCTV footage from cameras installed around the former MP’s house showed men in plain clothes entering, and then the four men being taken away in two cars parked outside the gate.
Sources in the Delhi Police claimed that the unidentified persons were police personnel from Telangana, who, according to initial investigation, were looking for the men and then picked them up for questioning.
The sources said the Delhi Police then contacted the Telangana Police to trace the whereabouts of the men.
“No official confirmation has been received in this regard. Moreover, there has been no formal communication by the state’s police to the Delhi Police as of now,” a senior Delhi Police officer had told ThePrint.
The Cyberabad Police, however, said they “intimated” the Delhi Police over phone about the issue.
The ‘murder’ conspiracy
The Telangana Police, which earlier denied “picking up” any men from Reddy’s residence when ThePrint approached them Wednesday, said the four main accused were arrested in Delhi and brought to Hyderabad in relation to a murder conspiracy hatched against the state cabinet minister.
The police also recovered a 9mm pistol from accused Raghavender Raju and a revolver from Munnuru Ravi. The weapons were procured by Raju from Uttar Pradesh, according to the cops.
It all started with a complaint filed by one Farooq at Cyberabad’s Petbasheerabad police station against three men — one Nagaraj and his associates — for an alleged attempt to murder him.
The police filed a case under Section 307 (attempt to murder), 120B (party to criminal conspiracy), 115 (Abetment of offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life—if offence not committed) of the Indian Penal Code, according to the Cyberabad Police.
The police arrested Nagaraj and two others based on the complaint, and after a preliminary investigation, found that Raghavender Raju and few of his associates allegedly conspired to murder Srinivas Goud.
Nagaraj and his associates, too, hail from Mahabubnagar, the police said.
According to the police’s preliminary investigation, it was found that Raghavender Raju and the other three arrested in Delhi planned to murder Goud and reached out to Farooq.
The budget for the entire plan was around Rs 15 crore, the police said.
Raju asked Farooq to do it himself or put him in touch with hired assassins. At this, Farooq allegedly panicked and divulged the murder plan to his aide, Hyder Ali.
Following this, Raju allegedly wanted Farooq and Hyder killed, the police said.
An attempt on Farooq and Hyder’s lives was made by Nagaraj and two others in the city on 23 February, according to the cops.
“Once we arrested and investigated Nagaraj (in relation to the attempt to murder Farooq), we got to know about Raghavender Raju’s link with him and the actual murder conspiracy against the minister,” Commissioner Ravindra said.
When asked about the reason of the alleged conspiracy to murder Goud, how the police were certain of it without a more thorough probe, or even how the arrested men could think of assassinating a minister with round-the-clock security with just country-made weapons, the Cyberabad Police had no answer.
“We have sent them to remand. Once we take custody of them and interrogate them further, I can answer all this,” Ravindra said.
The police also said that they’re probing if BJP leader Reddy had any role in the alleged conspiracy, adding that they are also looking into state BJP leader D.K. Aruna’s involvement, if any.
‘Police press meet a joke, political conspiracy, will move HC’
Reacting to Cyberabad Police’s press meet on the alleged murder attempt plan, Jithender Reddy called it a “joke”, adding that the case is purely a result of “political conspiracy”.
He also said Wednesday that he will soon move the state high court about the matter.
“These cases have been foisted on citizens with social responsibility who filed RTIs against minister Srinivas Goud,” Reddy said.
“Thapa has been my driver for the last eight years. Ravi Munnuru is also from my native place in Mahabubnagar. He was a student leader and was part of the Telangana agitation,” Reddy had earlier told ThePrint.
He, however, had said that he didn’t have information about the other men who came with Munnur.
Asked about the attempt-to-murder case, Reddy had claimed that while he was aware about the matter, “it is a bogus case” against “innocent people”. The former MP claimed that Thapa and Munnuru are not involved in the case, adding that he has no information about the role of the other men.
“Ravi Munnuru had called up my PA on 26 February and had asked if he could stay in my house for two days. My PA informed me about it and I gave a go-ahead because this isn’t the first time that he is staying in my house. We have known each other for a long time,” Reddy had said Tuesday.
“Even if they are involved in an attempt to murder case, the Telangana Police should have taken assistance from the local police. They picked them up without an official notification,” Reddy had claimed.
“The Delhi Police should have been contacted before they took this action. If they have done anything wrong, they would have anyway faced the law, but there has to be accountability. They cannot barge into a VIP zone, a former MP’s house like this,” the BJP leader had said.
State Congress spokesperson Dasoju Sravan Thursday called Cyberabad Commissioner’s press meet a “suspense thriller”.
“The truth should come out — who wanted to kill the minister, who was financing for it? Police Commissioner’s press meet was like Ram Gopal Varma’s suspense thriller,” he said.
“I think a lie detector test should be done with the minister, police commissioner and ex-MP and BJP leader Aruna. And if the situation is such in Telangana, that there are people who want to kill a minister, this has to be probed. Our party demands a CBI inquiry,” Sravan said.
(Edited by Saikat Niyogi)
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