Hyderabad, February 22 – The Telangana Police have solved the mystery surrounding the death of writer and YouTuber Boggula Srinivas, with the arrest of his friend, who is alleged to have hired contract killers to eliminate him and push the car with the victim's body into a reservoir to make it appear as an accident.
The body of Srinivas, 48, was found in a car that had plunged into the Palair reservoir in the Khammam district on February 14. Some fishermen had told the police that the person driving the vehicle jumped out and fled the scene at the time of the accident.
The police recovered the vehicle and noticed injuries on the victim's head. The next day, he was identified as Srinivas.
Born in the village of Allur in the Nandikotkur mandal of the Nandyal district of Andhra Pradesh, Srinivas gained popularity in 2014 after publishing a book titled "Pawan Kalyan Hatao-Politics Bachao" (Remove Pawan Kalyan – Save Politics).
He had allegedly received death threats at the time of the book's release.
The police registered a case after the deceased's family raised suspicions about the cause of his death.
After a week, the police made a breakthrough in the case with the arrest of Venu Madhava Reddy and three contract killers.
The Khammam rural police revealed the details of the case to the media on Sunday. Assistant Commissioner of Police Tirupati Reddy said that differences over financial transactions between Srinivas and Madhva Reddy led to the murder.
Madhava Reddy had hired P. Koteswara Rao, Sheikh Abdul Hafeez, and Azmat Ali, all residents of the Bhadradri Kothagudem district, to kill Srinivas.
Srinivas was killed near Narketpally in Nalgonda while he was travelling in a car to Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh.
To conceal their crime and also to mislead the police, the accused pushed the car with the victim's body into the Palair reservoir to make it appear as an accident.
According to the police, Srinivas had given permission to Madhava Reddy to use his GST account for certain transactions. As Srinivas had received notice from authorities regarding GST dues, he was demanding that Madhava Reddy make a cash payment as per their agreement.
When Srinivas pressured Madhava Reddy for the payment, the latter hatched a plot to eliminate him and hired three killers.