An Andhra Pradesh court on Friday sentenced five men to death for the brutal 2015 murder of former Chittoor Mayor Katari Anuradha and her husband Katari Mohan inside the Chittoor Municipal Corporation office.
The double murder, which sent shockwaves across the state, took place on November 17, 2015. The couple was attacked in broad daylight by a group of assailants disguised in burqas, who stormed into the office and assaulted them with knives and daggers before fatally shooting Anuradha.
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The court identified Sriram Chandrasekhar, the nephew of Katari Mohan, as the prime accused and held him guilty along with Govinda Swami Srinivasaiah Venkatachalapathy (alias Venkatesh), Jayaprakash Reddy (alias Jayareddy), Manjunath (alias Manju), and Muniratnam Venkatesh.
According to investigators, the gruesome crime was the result of long-standing family disputes and property-related animosity between the accused and the victims.
Delivering the verdict, the court termed the act as a “rarest of rare” case deserving of the death penalty. The sentencing marks a major development in the decade-long case that had gripped the Chittoor region with its political and familial overtones.
Authorities said the convicts were remanded to custody and would be shifted to prison pending further legal procedures and any potential appeals.
(This story is published from a syndicated feed)
