A 44-year-old realtor was arrested by the Hyderabad city police on Wednesday for allegedly killing his cousin with a country-made firearm.
The accused, Thota Narender Reddy from Vasavi Nagar in Old Alwal, was apprehended by the sleuths of Commissioner’s Task Force, North Zone Team of inspector K Nageswar Rao, Commissioner of Police Anjani Kumar said.
He said that Narender Reddy killed his cousin Thota Vijay Bhaskar Reddy (48), a realtor from Srinivas Nagar Colony, Alwal, for loss of commission in land deals. Police recovered two country-made pistols, three live rounds, three empty shells, ₹ 7.20 lakh in cash and a cash bag from the possession of the accused.
“The accused decided to eliminate Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy from his path as he was frequently disturbing his dealing with plots, which led to loss of commission,” Mr. Kumar said. A few months ago, he came into contact with one agent Ramkumar from Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh, from whom the former purchased firearms and six live rounds for ₹ 30,000. He also planned to eliminate P. Madhav, an ex-councillor, as there was some land dispute between them at Alwal.
Recently Narender Reddy took ₹ 3 lakh as advance from the victim for a plot situated at Bharath Nagar Colony, Alwal admeasuring 120 sq. yards. He went to the victim’s house and asked him to get the money for registration of the said plot and left for the registration office.
“After reaching RTC Colony under Trimulgherry police station limits, on the request of Narender Reddy, Vijay Bhaskar parked the vehicle and suddenly opened fire on the latter. After confirming his death, the accused fled away with the cash bag,” Mr. Kumar said.
He said that the calibre of the bullet which was found in Vijay Bhaskar’s body matched with the live rounds recovered from the accused. “It is the clinching evidence in the case,” the officer added.
