Police says it was plot to kill Jagan Mohan Reddy

Visakhapatnam: The police’s remand report submitted to the VII Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Court in connection with the attack on YSR Congress leader Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, clearly mentioned that the accused, Janipalli Srinivasa Rao, attacked Mr Reddy in the airport lounge with the intention of eliminating him and not to gain popularity as claimed by some top police officers and the Telugu Desam government.

It said the knife was aimed at the neck but Mr Reddy got up from his seat and so suffered an injury to his left shoulder. The report said if the attack had been executed as planned it would have led to the death of Mr Reddy.

The remand report submitted by Inspector Malla Seshu of the Airport Police Station, stated that Protocol Inspector Vasudev was on the scene when the attack took place. While Mr Reddy was talking with his partymen in the VIP lounge of Visakhapatnam Airport last Thursday, Ramadevi, a service assistant of Fusion Food restaurant located at the airport, came to the lounge to serve tea.

The accused Srinivasa Rao accompanied Rama-devi to serve bottles of water, and then remained in the lounge, standing next to Mr Reddy.

When senior party leader of the YSRC Karanam Dharmasri was taking a selfie with Mr Reddy, the accused, who was standing to the left of Mr Reddy, whipped out a knife from his pocket and tried to stab Mr Reddy in the neck. Mr Reddy dodged the attempt by turning aside. As a result, the murder attempt ended in just an injury to Mr Reddy’s left shoulder. Protocol Inspector Vasudev and leaders of the YSRC caught the accused and took the knife from him. The police also recovered another blade from him.

YSRC leaders said that the remand report highlighted that the accused had full knowledge of Mr Reddy’s plan to travel to Hyderabad and planned the murder accordingly. He carried two knives and a letter on his person which the police recovered. Mr Reddy told agitated partymen not to hurt the accused and insisted on handing him over to the police.

The report said that though the knife was small and used in cockfights during the Sankranti season, it was very sharp and had it found its mark, it would have killed Mr Reddy.

YSRC leaders have criticised the TD government and its police department and said that the investigation was not being conducted to establish the motive of the accused or to reveal the people behind the attack. Instead, the Telugu Desam government is trying to establish that the attacker was a big fan of Mr Reddy and attacked him only to get some publicity.