Five get death penalty for murder of former Chittoor mayor, her husband

The IX Additional District and Sessions Court present connected Friday sentenced 5 men to decease for the 2015 treble execution of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders, the past Chittoor Mayor Katari Anuradha and her hubby Katari Mohan, terming it “one of the astir brutal crimes successful caller memory.”

Judge Srinivasa Rao handed the decease punishment to Sriram Chandrasekhar alias Chintu (55), M. Venkatesh (49), Jayaprakash Reddy (33), T. Manjunath (37), and Venkatachalapathi alias Razor Venkatesh (61). The tribunal besides ordered them to wage ₹70 lakh successful compensation, ₹50 lakh to Anuradha’s household and ₹20 lakh to complainant Satish Naidu, who was injured portion trying to prevention Mohan.

The justice described the murders arsenic a “meticulously plotted enactment carried retired with chilling precision.”

Attack successful wide daylight

On November 17, 2015, the accused assembled astatine Chandrasekhar’s bureau astatine Ganganapalle locality successful Chittoor metropolis to finalise their plan. Learning that Anuradha and Mohan were successful the Mayor’s chamber, they moved swiftly. To conceal their identities, Chandrasekhar and Venkatesh covered themselves with achromatic burqas. They merged with the nationalist and entered the municipal corp office. Chandrasekhar hid a pistol successful a lady’s handbag, portion Venkatesh carried a container containing 3 machetes.

Their accomplices, Jayaprakash Reddy, Manjunath, and Razor Venkatesh, followed astatine a distance, portion different waited extracurricular successful a car for a speedy escape.

At astir 11 a.m., the men reached the Mayor’s office. When Mohan’s brother-in-law Kishore questioned them, Chandrasekhar lifted his veil, pushed him aside, and stormed into the country wherever the Mayor and her hubby were discussing a civic issue.

Chandrasekhar fired point-blank astatine Anuradha’s head, ignoring her pleas for mercy. After she collapsed, chaos broke out. The others drew machetes and attacked Mohan and Satish Naidu. Satish was slashed connected his backmost portion trying to support Mohan, who ran toward the assembly hall. The assailants chased and hacked him connected the cervix and head, critically wounding him. Anuradha died connected the spot, portion Mohan succumbed aboriginal that nighttime astatine a hospital.

The assassins ran down the stairs, scaled the compound wall, and escaped successful their getaway car. The shocking daylight murders triggered Statewide outrage, followed by 1 of the largest manhunts successful the State, led by the past Superintendent of Police, Ghattamaneni Srinivas.

A lawsuit (Cr. No. 130/2015) was registered nether Sections 147, 148, 302, 307, 120-B, 109 r/w 149 IPC and the Arms Act, 1959. The probe examined 69 witnesses and recovered weapons, burqas, and the vehicle.

Prime accused Chandrasekhar, the nephew of Katari Mohan, surrendered connected November 30, 2015, aft 13 days successful hiding astatine assorted places, including Bengaluru. He confessed to plotting the murders owed to “personal enmity.”

22 acquitted

The marathon proceedings featured 59 witnesses who testified. The tribunal directed perjury proceedings against those who attempted to mislead the investigation. While 27 were mentioned arsenic the accused, the tribunal acquitted 22 of them, portion 1 idiosyncratic died during the people of the probe.

Pronouncing the verdict, Judge Srinivasa Rao said the transgression was “an enactment of vengeance executed with ruthless precision,” awarding decease by hanging to the 5 convicts.

Immediately aft the judgment, the 5 convicts were taken to the Central Jail astatine Kadapa.

Current Chittoor SP Tushar Dudi hailed the efforts of probe officers, the past Deputy SP Lakshmi Naidu, Inspectors Niranjan Kumar, Maheshwar, existent Deputy SP (Chittoor) T. Sainath, Special Public Prosecutor Shailaja, and the Court Monitoring Cell squad for their persistence successful bringing the killers to justice.