Hours after arresting Telugu Desam Party leader from Allagadda in Kurnool and former minister Bhuma Akhila Priya in connection with the kidnap of three persons related to Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Hyderabad police arrested senior TDP leader A V Subba Reddy in the same case.
The Hyderabad police, who named Subba Reddy as Accused No. 1 in the kidnap case, arrested him at Ayyappa Society Colony in Madhapur on Wednesday evening. He would be produced before the court later in the evening.
The police named Akhila Priya as A-2 and her husband Bhargav Ram as A-3 and are on the look out for others, who were involved in the kidnap, which ended up with the release of the three brothers – Praveen Rao, Sunil Rao and Naveen Rao at Kokapat in the early hours of Wednesday.
But Subba Reddy wondered why he was made A-1 in the case and why he would kidnap Praveen Rao who was his close friend.
“I have no connection whatsoever with the kidnap. Moreover, how can I join hands with Akhila Priya in kidnapping somebody? She is my rival in the district,” Subba Reddy said.
He reminded that he had filed a case against Akhila Priya in the past for allegedly trying to get him killed through hired assassins.
“Why should I collude with her in the kidnap?” he asked and expressed confidence that the facts would come out in the enquiry.
Earlier, Hyderabad police commissioner said Praveen Rao had purchased 25 acres of land at Hafeezpet in 2016, which got into some dispute.
The issue was mediated by A V Subba Reddy and Akhila Priya’s father Bhuma Nagi Reddy and was subsequently resolved.
“After the death of Nagi Reddy in 2017, Akhila Priya approached Praveen Rao for a share in the land and when the latter said the deal was already settled with Subba Reddy, she started threatening him,” he said.
Surprisingly, the police registered a case against Subba Reddy for allegedly trespassing into Praveen Rao’s land and threatening him with dire consequences. The commissioner also said Subba Reddy had close relations with Bhuma family.