Eight held for conspiring to kill Telangana minister Srinivas Goud
Hyderabad, Mar 2: Eight members of a gang which allegedly conspired to kill Telangana Tourism Minister V Srinivas Goud have been arrested, police said on Wednesday.
Three of the accused were picked up from Delhi from the servant's quarters of the residence of senior BJP leader and former Mahabubnagar MP, AP Jithender Reddy, they said.
According to police, Reddy's driver and personal assistant had arranged shelter for the accused in Delhi.
"The gang members conspired to kill (Telangana) Cabinet Minister V Srinivas Goud," Cyberabad Police Commissioner M Stephen Raveendra told reporters.
An in-depth investigation is underway and the role of the former MP and associates of a former woman minister and others, will be verified as part of the probe, he said.
The official said they also recovered some weapons, including pistol and six rounds, from the possession of the accused which were procured from Uttar Pradesh.
Based on preliminary investigation, it was found that associates of the former MP had planned to hire assassins and were willing to pay Rs 15 crore for the murder, police said, adding that they then approached a history-sheeter for executing the plan.
However, the history-sheeter revealed the plan to his friend. As Reddy's associates came to know about it, they hatched a plan to kill the criminal and his friend on February 25, police said
The criminal and his friend managed to escape and lodged a complaint with police.
Meanwhile, Jithender Reddy, in a release, said he will approach the High Court against this "false" case which he said was politically motivated.
He had earlier said that some of his associates were "kidnapped" from his residence in Delhi on Wednesday evening and a complaint was filed in this regard with Delhi police.
Investigations are underway to ascertain the motive behind the conspiracy, police added.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
