The night before he allegedly shot dead his cousin, Thota Narender Reddy test fired the country-made pistol at a secluded place near Alwal tank off Karimnagar-Hyderabad highway.
He hatched a fool-proof murder plot and executed it with clockwork precision, said the police officers associated with the investigation of the sensational murder reported at RTC Colony of Trimulgherry three days ago. Carefully preparing for the killing of cousin Thota Vijayabhaskar Reddy, the accused (now behind the bars) cleaned the two country-made pistols with coconut oil.
He wanted to ensure the short firearms did not get stuck in the last minute. After cleaning the two pistols, he test-fired one round in the darkness near Alwal tank and quietly returned to his house located less than a couple of kilometres away in Srinivasangar Colony.
Finalising a deal
The next morning, without arousing his cousin’s suspicion, he joined him to finalise the sale of a plot. They started in the car of Vijaybhaskar, who drove it. As per his plan, Narender asked his cousin to halt for a few minutes at RTC Colony stating that the persons selling the plot were coming with original documents.
Vijaybhaskar stopped the car, but Narender got off on the pretext of making a phone call.
“Actually, no one was coming. After strolling for a few minutes, he got into the car’s rear seat,” said a police officer, seeking anonymity. All the while, Vijaybhaskar sat on the driver’s seat, watching some video clips in his mobile phone. Narender allegedly took out his weapon silently and fired on the back of Vijaybhaskar’s head.
As the victim slumped on the driver’s seat, Narender stepped out of the vehicle, walked a couple of yards and returned to ensure the man was dead.
“He later went home with the bag of ₹10 lakh Vijaybhaskar carried and had lunch as if nothing had happened,” the police officers said.
He took some money from the bag and left the house telling his wife that he was going to Srisailam with friends on some work, according to the investigators. The accused reportedly admitted to the police that he got familiarised with the usage of firearms watching related videos on YouTube.