Hyderabad police have arrested four more persons on charges of attempting to kill a legislator of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). The four of them had allegedly helped the main accused Paddagani Prasad Goud to execute his plan to kill A Jeevan Reddy, the member of the Telangana Assembly from Armoor constituency in Nizamabad district. Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Zone) Joel Davis on Wednesday, August 10 announced the arrest of the four accused – Santosh, Suguna, Surender and Sagar. Another accused, Munna Kumar, of Bihar is absconding.
Prasad Goud, a TRS leader and husband of a suspended sarpanch of a village, was arrested by the police on August 8. The police also seized a country made gun, an air pistol and a button knife from him. He had entered the MLA's house in Banjara Hills and allegedly pointed a gun at him. On seeing the accused, Jeevan Reddy reportedly shouted to alert his staff and the accused fled from there.
According to police, Prasad Goud bore a grudge against the Armoor MLA as he believed that he was responsible for the suspension of his wife Lavanya as sarpanch of Kalladi village in Makloor mandal and for not releasing Rs 20 lakh towards the pending bills of the development works undertaken in the village. With an intention to harm the MLA, Prasad Goud allegedly purchased the button knife from Maharashtra's Nanded and air pistol from Hyderabad's Nampally, and a country-made gun from Bihar.
He came in contact with Suguna, who, in turn, introduced him to Surender over the phone. The police investigation revealed that Suguna informed him that a firearm was available with Munna Kumar of Bihar for Rs 60,000. Prasad Goud paid the amount to Suguna, who transferred the same to Munna Kumar. On July 15, Surender met Prasad Goud at Bheemgal village in Nizamabad and handed over a country-made pistol, according to the police. The police said Munna Kumar was absconding. Police plan to take Prasad Goud into custody for questioning to collect more information about the murder plot and the role of the other accused.