Drama unfolded at a Chittoor court in Andhra Pradesh on Monday after Chandrasekhar alias Chintu, the chief accused in the double murder of Chittoor mayor Anuradha and her husband Mohan made an unexpected appearance and surrendered himself before the magistrate.

According to reports, Chintu slipped into court even as the Superintendent of Police was addressing a gathering of reporters in another part of the city and promising to arrest him at the earliest.

When asked how the accused could hoodwink the police, Chittoor Town circle inspector Niranjan Kumar told the Times of India “It was raining and he came with an umbrella and managed to get into the court without being noticed. It was not practically possible to identify someone with an umbrella,“ he said, adding: “In any case, he surrendered in the court and has been sent to judicial remand.“

Last week, the Chittoor police arrested three accused in the murder of Chittoor Mayor Katari Anuradha and her husband Katari Mohan on November 17 after forming four special teams to arrest Chintu.

“Chintu led the murderous attack on the couple. He is the main accused and absconding, but we have in our custody three others who participated in the attack. Investigations so far have revealed a power struggle was going on between the couple and Chintu who wanted his share of the spoils after Anuradha became mayor. He wanted Katari Mohan to project him as a TDP leader and insisted people coming to meet the mayor be sent to meet him too. There were lots of bruised egos and financial disputes between them,” the SP had earlier said.

The incident occurred at the Chittoor Muncipal Corporation office last week after burqa clad men stabbed and shot at the couple, leaving the mayor and her husband dead. 

A motorcycle, clothes with blood stains and some live bullets were seized during the investigation.

Addressing the media, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had said “We will not leave the culprits however influential they are. Some of the attackers are still at large. The police will catch them soon."

The police have nabbed eight people out of the total 11 accused in the case. Chintu was remanded to 14 days in judicial custody.