Five get death penalty for murder of former Chittoor mayor, her husband

The IX Additional District and Sessions Court here on Friday sentenced five men to death for the 2015 double murder of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders, the then Chittoor Mayor Katari Anuradha and her husband Katari Mohan, terming it “one of the most brutal crimes in recent memory.”

Judge Srinivasa Rao handed the death penalty to Sriram Chandrasekhar alias Chintu (55), M. Venkatesh (49), Jayaprakash Reddy (33), T. Manjunath (37), and Venkatachalapathi alias Razor Venkatesh (61). The court also ordered them to pay ₹70 lakh in compensation, ₹50 lakh to Anuradha’s family and ₹20 lakh to complainant Satish Naidu, who was injured while trying to save Mohan.

The judge described the murders as a “meticulously plotted act carried out with chilling precision.”

Attack in broad daylight

On November 17, 2015, the accused assembled at Chandrasekhar’s office at Ganganapalle locality in Chittoor city to finalise their plan. Learning that Anuradha and Mohan were in the Mayor’s chamber, they moved swiftly. To conceal their identities, Chandrasekhar and Venkatesh covered themselves with black burqas. They merged with the public and entered the municipal corporation office. Chandrasekhar hid a pistol in a lady’s handbag, while Venkatesh carried a bag containing three machetes.

Their accomplices, Jayaprakash Reddy, Manjunath, and Razor Venkatesh, followed at a distance, while another waited outside in a car for a quick escape.

At around 11 a.m., the men reached the Mayor’s office. When Mohan’s brother-in-law Kishore questioned them, Chandrasekhar lifted his veil, pushed him aside, and stormed into the room where the Mayor and her husband were discussing a civic issue.

Chandrasekhar fired point-blank at Anuradha’s head, ignoring her pleas for mercy. After she collapsed, chaos broke out. The others drew machetes and attacked Mohan and Satish Naidu. Satish was slashed on his back while trying to defend Mohan, who ran toward the council hall. The assailants chased and hacked him on the neck and head, critically wounding him. Anuradha died on the spot, while Mohan succumbed later that night at a hospital.

The assassins ran down the stairs, scaled the compound wall, and escaped in their getaway car. The shocking daylight murders triggered Statewide outrage, followed by one of the largest manhunts in the State, led by the then Superintendent of Police, Ghattamaneni Srinivas.

A case (Cr. No. 130/2015) was registered under Sections 147, 148, 302, 307, 120-B, 109 r/w 149 IPC and the Arms Act, 1959. The probe examined 69 witnesses and recovered weapons, burqas, and the vehicle.

Prime accused Chandrasekhar, the nephew of Katari Mohan, surrendered on November 30, 2015, after 13 days in hiding at various places, including Bengaluru. He confessed to plotting the murders due to “personal enmity.”

22 acquitted

The marathon trial featured 59 witnesses who testified. The court directed perjury proceedings against those who attempted to mislead the investigation. While 27 were mentioned as the accused, the court acquitted 22 of them, while one person died during the course of the probe.

Pronouncing the verdict, Judge Srinivasa Rao said the crime was “an act of vengeance executed with ruthless precision,” awarding death by hanging to the five convicts.

Immediately after the judgment, the five convicts were taken to the Central Jail at Kadapa.

Current Chittoor SP Tushar Dudi hailed the efforts of investigation officers, the then Deputy SP Lakshmi Naidu, Inspectors Niranjan Kumar, Maheshwar, current Deputy SP (Chittoor) T. Sainath, Special Public Prosecutor Shailaja, and the Court Monitoring Cell team for their persistence in bringing the killers to justice.