A prominent YCP leader in Vijayawada Poonuru Gautam Reddy is absconding after a case has been registered against him on charges of paying hired killers to kill his opponent in the context of land grabbing. He was the chairman of Fibernet Corporation during the previous government and accused of occupying a vacant land in Satyanarayanapuram.
The Vijayawada police arrested the supari gang and found that the accused had given supari to kill Umamaheswara Shastri, a landowner worth crores of rupees. According to Vijayawada Commissioner of Police, Gautham Reddy, a resident of Sivalayam Street, Vijayawada, had occupied the land in the name of Ganduri Uma Maheswara Sastri’s mother with false documents and built a rake shed.
Sastri noticed this after returning from America in 2017 and filed a complaint at the SatyanarayanaPuram Police Station. A criminal case was registered at that time on this complaint. After that, the Municipal Corporation concluded in the investigation that the land was occupied, canceled the assessment numbers assigned to Gautham Reddy, and continued to pay taxes in the name of the victims.
Although the Municipal Corporation tried to remove the encroachments several times, they were blocked by status quo orders in the High Court. In 2019, after change of government in the state and Gautam Reddy became chairman of Fibernet Corporation, he constructed a building in that site by obtaining permissions against the rules.
In this process, the victim complained to the corporation and the police and posted posts on social media, which went viral. During the last elections, the victim campaigned against Gautam Reddy. In this process, he complained to the police that he was attacked on October 31, and after that, he attempted to murder him on November 6 because he kept posting interviews on YouTube.
Sastry stated in the complaint that he was robbed of his house documents and his phone. The police, who investigated the incident, collected CCTV footage of the accused entering the victim’s house on October 31 and November 6. The CP explained that during the police investigation, it was revealed that he had agreed to pay Rs. 25 lakh to remove the obstacles for making allegations of land grabbing.
The Police said that 42 criminal cases have been registered against Poonuru Gautham Reddy in the NTR Police Commissionerate since 1988. Two murder cases, two attempted murder cases, one robbery case, two cheating cases, 34 cases under IPC cases like fights and assault, special laws, etc. He also had a rowdy sheet in the past. It was found that he had the practice of settlements against his criminal history by using political influence and seized properties.