Lawyer's greed for land may have killed him

HYDERABAD: Was the murdered advocate, S Ashok Reddy, the de facto owner of 3.19 acres of disputed land in Nanakramguda? Police suspect so and believe that the land deal cost him his life.
The interrogation of prime accused Dasarath Reddy (60), who can barely walk, and seven others has revealed that they bore a grudge against the lawyer as they believed that their relative Sanjeev Reddy had pursued the case in the Supreme Court after the loss in the HC at the lawyer's behest."The accused believe that Ashok took the case to SC as he had a general power of attorney (GPA) over the disputed land and had promised to give Sanjeev a share," an investigating officer said.
The disputed land, worth several crores, is located in survey numbers 50, 61, 74 of Nanakramguda village. A civil dispute on ownership has been on for several years and the accused had tried all options, including coercion, but Ashok Reddy reportedly did not budge. The final nail was the humiliation in the Supreme Court and the realisation that the land transfer in Sanjeev's name was imminent. Eliminating Sanjeev was not an option as Dasarath and co. were aware that the advocate would still go ahead with the land transfer as he held the GPA and stood to benefit.
Cops suspect that 11 persons are directly/indirectly involved in the gruesome daylight murder at the Serilingampally tahsildar's office on Saturday. While eight are in police custody, 3 are on the run. Of the eight, six are Dasarath's relatives - son Sekhar Reddy, close relatives Krishna Reddy, Pratap Reddy, Srinivas Reddy and Anji Reddy. Apart from close family, one man identified as Lala from Nanakramguda is also said to be directly involved. Cops have also zeroed in on Ramachandrapuram as the area from where the hunting sickles were bought.
The allegations of political involvement have also arose as Dasarath's son Sekhar is a follower of local MLA Bhikshapati Yadav's son and City Youth Congress president Ravi Kumar Yadav. But cops have maintained that the murder motive was a personal grudge and ruled out involvement of political personalities.
Assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Madhapur, K Goverdhan Reddy said they were actively pursuing the investigation.