Chittoor: A court in Andhra Pradesh has sentenced five convicts to death in the Chittoor Mayor Couple Murder Case. Nearly ten years ago, on November 17, 2015, the then Chittoor Mayor, Katari Anuradha, and her husband, Mohan, were murdered in the municipal office.
23 people were charged in the case. Judge N. Srinivasa Rao of the Sixth Additional District Sessions Court recently ruled that five accused were involved in the case. In today’s hearing, those five were sentenced to death. Initially, 23 people were charged in the case. Accused Kasaram Ramesh filed a petition claiming he was not involved. Following this, the court issued an order expunging his name.
Accused S. Srinivasachari died during the investigation. With this, there are now 21 accused. The mayor’s husband, Mohan’s nephew, Sriram Chandrashekhar alias Chintu, Govindaswami Srinivasaiah Venkatachalapathi alias Venkatesh, Jayaprakash Reddy alias Jayareddy, Manjunath alias Manju, and Muniratnam Venkatesh were found guilty.
The couple was murdered.
Chintu is the nephew of TDP district vice-president Katari Mohan. According to reports, personal, financial, and political differences arose between him and the victim couple. Consequently, Chintu decided to eliminate Mayor Anuradha and his uncle Mohan.
The mayor’s couple was brutally murdered on November 17, 2015.
On November 17, 2015, Chintu and four other accomplices, wearing burqas and carrying guns and knives, entered the Chittoor Municipal Corporation office. Chintu and several others shot Katari Anuradha. Katari Mohan, who was in an adjacent room, was stabbed to death. Mohan, who was in critical condition, died the same day while undergoing treatment at Vellore CMC Hospital.
A case of attempted murder was also registered when Manjunath tried to kill Vellore Satish Kumar Naidu, who was present at the time of the mayor and his wife’s murder. The crime was also proven in this case. Police accused the remaining 16 people of providing weapons, shelter, and financial support to the killers, but the investigation failed to prove this. Consequently, they were acquitted.
In this case, which resulted in a ten-year sentence, 352 adjournments were granted. 130 witnesses were examined. Accused Jayaprakash Reddy and Manjunath have been in jail since their arrest. After the death sentence is confirmed, the convicts will be sent to Kadapa prison after a medical examination.
