BJP corporator in Hyderabad arrested for kidnapping

Hyderabad, Sep 4 (IANS) A Greater Hyderabad corporator belonging to the BJP has been arrested by police for kidnapping the son of his political rival from the same party to settle scores with him.

Baddam Prem Maheswar Reddy, a Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) corporator from Gaddiannaram division was arrested along with nine other accused. The police were on the lookout of five other accused.

The Saroornagar police and the LB Nagar special operations team of the Rachakonda Police Commissionerate cracked the kidnapping case.

The accused kidnapped Lanka Subramanyam (21) from his house in P&T Colony in Gaddiannaram and physically tortured him.

The victim told police that the accused thrashed him and tortured him with burning cigarettes butts. The accused even asked the victim to take a bath and get ready as they would be going to offer his sacrifice at a temple. According to the victim, they even put a garland around his neck.

Police investigations revealed that the corporator had differences with one Lakshmi Narayana, a local BJP leader and a former rowdy-sheeter. Shravan, a BJP worker, also had a grudge against Lakshmi Narayana as he had allegedly had extra-marital relations with one of his relatives.

Maheswar Reddy along with Shravan hatched a conspiracy to kidnap Lakshmi Narayana. Lakshmi Narayana's brother Lanka Murali had property disputes with him and to resolve the same the latter had approached Maheswar Reddy. Murali also became a part of the conspiracy to kidnap Lakshmi Narayana and his son.

To execute the kidnapping plot, the corporator approached one Puneet Tiwari, a BJP sympathizer and outsourcing employee at the State Secretariat and promised to give him money. Puneet took the help of his friends, including students P. Manjunath, K. Pavan Kumar, R. Hemanth, software employee Balivada Praneeth and they went to the residence of Lakshmi Narayana in two cars in the early hours of September 1. Since Lakshmi Narayana was not found, they kidnapped his son Subrahmanyam who was sitting at a Ganesh mandap near his house and took him to Chintapalli in Nalgonda district.

The victim's parents lodged a complaint with the police, which swung into action and with the help of CCTV footage traced the victim and accused near Chintapalli. The police rescued the victim and arrested the kidnappers on September 2.

Police said they collected WhatsApp chat between the corporator and Puneeth and established that the corporator was the kingpin who planned the kidnapping and executed it.