Cong leader murdered over property dispute, political rivalry

Hyderabad: A 55-year-old Congress leader from Nizamabad district, Immadi Gopi, was murdered near Gouraram village on Wednesday night. According to police, unidentified assailants rammed his car with an SUV before attacking him with knives. Investigators suspect a family member's involvement, citing property disputes and political rivalry as the likely motives.Gopi, a resident of Lingapur hamlet in the Gouraram panchayat, previously served as mandal praja parishad (MPP) president of Dharpally. In the 2025 panchayat elections, his second wife, Hemalatha, was elected sarpanch of Gouraram. She defeated Gopi's nephew, Daggi Satish, who also hails from the same village."Satish has a long-standing property dispute with his uncle regarding the division of ancestral property," said B Prakash, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Nizamabad. The incident occurred at approximately 10 pm on Tuesday as Gopi and a fellow villager, G Vijay, were returning to Lingapur after attending to personal work in Gouraram. An MG Hector SUV, which police confirmed belongs to Satish, rammed Gopi's Brezza from the opposite direction on the outskirts of the village.Following the collision, a group of assailants disembarked from the SUV, pulled Gopi from his vehicle, and stabbed him multiple times, killing him on the spot. Vijay, who sustained injuries in the crash, alerted the police and Gopi's family.Based on Vijay's statement, police have launched a manhunt for the assailants. Gopi's first wife, Immadi Laxmi—herself a former sarpanch of Gouraram—lodged a complaint alleging that her husband had faced political rivalry for nearly two decades. she noted that tensions with Satish had intensified significantly over the past six months following his electoral defeat.Apart from Satish, Laxmi also named five others from Gouraram and Lingapur. A case was registered under Section 103 (1) (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against Satish and others on Thursday. Police reportedly took some of the suspects, including Satish, into custody. They were being interrogated. "The body was handed over to the family after a post-mortem examination. We have put up a police picket in Lingapur as a precautionary measure," Dichpally inspector Vinod said.