Youth Congress leader M. Vikram Goud, who was injured in a firing last week, had stage-managed the incident and offered Rs 50 lakh to the gang he had hired to execute the plan, a senior police officer said on Wednesday.
Hyderabad Police Commissioner M. Mahender Reddy said that Goud, who was still undergoing treatment at a hospital, was under police surveillance and would be arrested once he is discharged.
Police have arrested five other accused, while two others are on the run. The arrested include Raees Khan, a native of Indore, who had opened two rounds on Goud.
Goud, 35, has been booked for abetment to commit crime, criminal conspiracy, causing disappearance of evidence, giving false information to police and for possessing and using illegal firearm.
Goud, a businessman and son of former Andhra Pradesh Minister M. Mukesh Goud, was injured in the firing at his residence in upscale Banjara Hills area at 3.30 a.m on July 28. He had told the police that two assailants riding a bike barged into his house and opened fire.
The police investigations, however, revealed that Goud had himself planned the attack and hired a gang to execute it.
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Goud, who also produced some Telugu films and had investments in real estate and other businesses, had hoped to gain public sympathy in the Jubliee Hills constituency in Hyderabad from where he is planning to contest next assembly elections in 2019.
He also wanted to use the incident as an excuse to avoid some businessmen pressurising him to repay the loans.
Interestingly, Goud tried to execute in real life a plot from one of his own movies.
Apart from Raees Khan, police arrested S. Nanda Kumar, Sheikh Ahmed, K. Babujaan and A. Govind Reddy -- all hailing from Kadapa and Anantapur districts of Andhra Pradesh. Venkat Ramna and Ghouse are absconding.
The police chief said the arrests were made during searches across five states -- Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
Of the Rs 50 lakh that Vikram Goud had promised to the gang to shoot at him, he had paid Rs 14 lakh and had made all arrangements. The gang had purchased a pistol from Indore and along with ammunition it was kept at his house since it was brought to Hyderabad in early July.
Police recovered the country-made pistol, which the accused had thrown into a pond after executing the plan.
The police chief said Vikram Goud's wife M. Shipali had no knowledge of his plot. She told the police that her husband woke up early and asked her to get ready to go to a nearby "dargah" for making arrangements for feeding the poor.
Raees Khan, who had helped the gang in procuring pistol from Indore, rushed to Hyderabad to execute the plan on July 27 after the other accused backed out.
The planning started four months ago when Vikram asked Govind Reddy, who wanted to work in films, to procure a weapon and make an attempt on his life.
Govind Reddy approached his friend Nanda Kumar, who in turn brought other accused to execute the plan.
As per the plan, the attack was to be carried out on July 26 but it had to be postponed as Sheikh Ahmed did not turn up due to miscommunication. The accused decided to go back to their Anantapur district as they were not confident of executing the plan.
Sheikh Ahmed then called Raees Khan to Hyderabad to do the shooting.
As per the plan, Raees opened fire on Vikram who was sitting on sofa. He sustained two bullet injuries on his both upper arms. Raees could not fire a third round as per the plan as the bullet got stuck, the Police Commissioner said.
--IANS
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