The IX Extra District and Classes Court docket right here on Friday sentenced 5 males to demise for the 2015 double homicide of Telugu Desam Occasion (TDP) leaders, the then Chittoor Mayor Katari Anuradha and her husband Katari Mohan, terming it “probably the most brutal crimes in latest reminiscence.”
Choose Srinivasa Rao handed the demise penalty to Sriram Chandrasekhar alias Chintu (55), M. Venkatesh (49), Jayaprakash Reddy (33), T. Manjunath (37), and Venkatachalapathi alias Razor Venkatesh (61). The court docket additionally ordered them to pay ₹70 lakh in compensation, ₹50 lakh to Anuradha’s household and ₹20 lakh to complainant Satish Naidu, who was injured whereas attempting to save lots of Mohan.
The decide described the murders as a “meticulously plotted act carried out with chilling precision.”
Andhra Pradesh, Tirupati, 17/11/2015: A file photograph of the slain Chittoor Mayor Katari Anuradha and her husband Katari Mohan.
Assault in broad daylight
On November 17, 2015, the accused assembled at Chandrasekhar’s workplace at Ganganapalle locality in Chittoor metropolis to finalize their plan. Studying that Anuradha and Mohan had been within the Mayor’s chamber, they moved swiftly. To hide their identities, Chandrasekhar and Venkatesh coated themselves with black burqas. They merged with the general public and entered the municipal company workplace. Chandrasekhar hid a pistol in a girl’s purse, whereas Venkatesh carried a bag containing three machetes.
Their accomplices, Jayaprakash Reddy, Manjunath, and Razor Venkatesh, adopted at a distance, whereas one other waited exterior in a automotive for a fast escape.
At round 11 am, the boys reached the Mayor’s workplace. When Mohan’s brother-in-law Kishore questioned them, Chandrasekhar lifted his veil, pushed him apart, and stormed into the room the place the Mayor and her husband had been discussing a civic problem.
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 again whereas attempting to defend Mohan, who ran in the direction of the council corridor. The assailants chased and hacked him on the neck and head, critically wounding him. Anuradha died on the spot, whereas Mohan succumbed later that night time at a hospital.
The assassins ran down the steps, scaled the compound wall, and escaped of their getaway automotive. The surprising daylight murders triggered Statewide outrage, adopted by one of many largest manhunts within the State, led by the then Superintendent of Police, Ghattamaneni Srinivas.
A case (Cr. No. 130/2015) was registered below 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 car.
Prime accused Chandrasekhar, the nephew of Katari Mohan, surrendered on November 30, 2015, after 13 days in hiding at varied locations, together with Bengaluru. He confessed to plotting the murders attributable to “private enmity.”
22 acquitted
The marathon trial featured 59 witnesses who testified. The court docket directed perjury proceedings towards those that tried to mislead the investigation. Whereas 27 had been talked about because the accused, the court docket acquitted 22 of them, whereas one particular person died throughout the course of the probe.
Announcing the decision, Choose Srinivasa Rao stated the crime was “an act of vengeance executed with ruthless precision,” awarding demise by hanging to the 5 convicts.
Instantly after the judgment, the 5 convicts had been taken to the Central Jail at Kadapa.
Present Chittoor SP Tushar Dudi hailed the efforts of investigation officers, the then Deputy SP Lakshmi Naidu, Inspectors Niranjan Kumar, Maheshwar, present Deputy SP (Chittoor) T. Sainath, Particular Public Prosecutor Shailaja, and the Court docket Monitoring Cell workforce for his or her persistence in bringing the killers to justice.
Revealed – October 31, 2025 07:08 pm IST