Page 7: Accused had full knowledge of plan
VISAKHAPATNAM, OCT. 28
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.
The accused Srinivasa Rao accompanied Ramadevi 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.