Conspiracy to kill minister busted, says Telangana Police

Hyderabad, March (IANS) Telangana Police on Wednesday claimed to have busted a conspiracy to assassinate state Cabinet Minister V. Srinivas Goud with the arrest of eight accused.

Four of the accused were arrested from the residence of BJP leader and former MP A.P. Jithender Reddy in New Delhi.

Police also seized two weapons and some rounds from the accused. Cyberabad Police Commissioner Stephen Ravindra announced the arrests at a news conference here on Wednesday night.

He said the accused had offered Rs 15 crore to a person with criminal record for killing the minister.

The Police Commissioner said Jithender Reddy's driver Thapa and personal assistant Raju provided shelter to the accused in the servants quarter at the former MP's house.

Ravindra said they were probing the role of Jithender Reddy in the case. Police hope to gather more details after further questioning of the accused.

The former MP had tweeted on Tuesday that his personal driver Thapa and social activist Ravi Munnur were abducted from his residence on the night of February 28. He had filed a complaint with the police.

The Police Commissioner said Raghavendra Raju, Munnur Ravi, Amrinder Raju, and Madhudushan Raju had fled from Mahabubnagar to Visakhapatnam and from there to Delhi as the police had already learnt about the conspiracy from their associates during investigation of a case.

He said two persons, Farooq and Hyder Ali, were attacked on February 25 near Suchitra area by Nagraj and others. They, however, escaped and lodged a complaint with police. A case of attempt to murder was registered at Petbasheerabad police station.

During the investigation of the case, police learnt that Yadaiah, Nagraj, and Vishwanth came from Mahabubnagar and tried to kill Farooq and Hyder Ali. The accused were arrested on February 26. During his confession before police, Nagraj said that Raghavender Raju, along with some others, hatched a murder conspiracy and named Raghavendra Raju, Ravi, and Madhusudhan Raju.

Police took up investigation, which finally led them to servant quarter at Jithender Reddy's house in Delhi. Police served notice to the accused under Section 160 of Criminal Procedure and brought to Hyderabad.

The investigations revealed that Raghavendra Raju had approached Farooq to kill the minister and offered Rs 15 crore. Since Farooq had revealed this plan to Hyder Ali, Raju and his associates tried to eliminate them.