Three arrested in YouTuber’s murder case over GST dispute in Telangana

Hyderabad: A week after the murder of YouTuber Boggula Srinivas at Palair Reservoir, Khammam police on Sunday arrested three individuals. They stated the prime accused (Venumadhav), had hired a three-member group of assailants to carry out the killing.Police said Srinivas, a writer and YouTuber, was killed on Feb 14 by Venumadhav Reddy, Koteshwar Rao, Sheikh Abdullah Hafeez, and Mohammed Azmath Ali Khan. Srinivas and Venumadhav Reddy had been schoolmates and had reunited some time ago at an alumni meet.
Venumadhav Reddy, a contractor, allegedly misused the GST number of a company owned by the victim. A notice was served to him to pay a penalty of 1 crore. This dispute over the GST number led to tensions between Srinivas and Venumadhav Reddy. Since the victim demanded that the prime accused clear the arrears, Venumadhav decided to eliminate him."For executing the murder, Venumadhav hired the other accused and paid them 5 lakh. On Feb 14, the victim was called by the accused with an assurance to pay the demanded money at Vijayawada. Accordingly, he was made to sit in a car. Between Nakrekal and Jangaon, the victim was killed by attacking him using knives and rods," Khammam police said.The car was later pushed into Palair Reservoir to stage the death as an accident. "A few fishermen saw the accused pushing the car into the water. Within an hour, the police recovered the vehicle," officials said.Following the arrest of the accused, the investigation revealed that the motive was a financial dispute.