After lawyers, I’m next in line: Congress leader

PEDDAPALLI: Two days after the gruesome daylight murder of lawyer couple Gattu Vaman Rao and PV Nagamani at Kalvacherla in Peddapalli district, Congress leader and Manthani former vice-sarpanch Inumulla Satish approached the police department seeking protection from Thulesegari Srinivas alias Bittu Seenu and gang.

Citing the audio clip, which has gone viral now, wherein Kunta Srinivas, Accused No. 1 in the sensational murder, was heard speaking to a person who sounded like a contract killer while asking him to eliminate a Congress leader, Inumulla Satish told the police that his life was “under threat” and the Supri gang was hatching a plan to kill him.

Speaking to Express, Satish said that the TRS leaders held a grudge against him for filing a petition against the Putta Lingamma Charitable Trust, which belongs to former TRS MLA and Peddapalli ZP Chairman Putta Madhu, and for amassing wealth through corrupt means. He had also, reportedly, filed complaints with the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) and the Income Tax (I-T) Department. Vaman Rao and Nagamani were fighting this case in the High Court. As a result of all the chaos associated with this plea, the Charitable Trust had to be shut down in December, 2018.

According to Satish, it was soon after this that the audio clip came out, wherein Kunta Srinivas was heard hatching a plan with a contract killer to eliminate a Congress leader. He had also mentioned Putta Madhu (Madhu anna) several times. Satish told Express that though he submitted this audio clip in the High Court and had submitted a plaint to the DGP, to no avail.

“After Putta Madhu was defeated in the 2018 Assembly elections, their hatred towards me, Vaman Rao, Uppatla Srinivas and Edla Srinivas increased and they started hatching plans to eliminate each one of us to strengthen his political career,” said Satish. He cited the incident wherein he was attacked by Seenu’s gang right after the polls.

Bittu Seenu, the nephew of Putta Madhu, had back then made statements claiming that the four of us worked to defeat the then MLA, Satish alleged. “Uppatla Srinivas, scared for his life, finally joined the TRS party. Edla Srinivas was jailed on false charges of being  a teakwood smuggler. Now that they have eliminated Vaman Rao as well, their next target would be me,” Satish said.

‘Clip came out after plea was filed’
According to Manthani former vice-sarpanch Inumulla Satish, it was soon after he filed a petition against the Putta Lingamma Charitable Trust that the audio clip came out. He also pointed out that if the police had provided proper protection to Gattu Vaman Rao and PV Nagamani, they would have still been alive

CM should react: Manthani MLA
Manthani MLA D Sridhar Babu has demanded that Chief K Chandrasekhar Rao react immediately and ensure a transparent investigation into the gory killing of the lawyer couple. “Why are the Ministers mum on the incident? Be it MAUD Minister KTR or even the district Minister, no one is responding,” he said