MAHABUBABAD: An independent councillor of Mahabubabad Municipality was brutally murdered by four persons at Pattipaka here on Thursday.The victim, Banothu Ravi Naidu, 35, died on the spot. He was elected from the eighth ward. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.
As the assailants, after murdering Ravi Naidu, fled the scene, the locals informed Mahabubabad One Town Police who rushed to the spot. Speaking to the media, Mahabubabad District Superintendent of Police (SP) Sharath Chandra Pawar said that accused had plotted Ravi Naik’s murder and attacked him in the early hours while he was going on his two-wheeler.
The assailants first knocked him down with a tractor. After he fell, three others, who followed the tractor in a car, attacked him with axes, and fled the scene in the same car. He said that there was no political motive for the murder. The police have already identified the two accused, Pawar said.
The SP said according to preliminary information, the deceased had rivalry with the accused over a business issue and that four police teams are looking for the accused under the supervision of ASP Yogesh Gautham.He expressed confidence that the police would arrest the accused sooner than later. A case has been registered and the body was shifted to Mahabubabad Government Area Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
Meanwhile, sources said that the accused have surrendered to the police but there is no official confirmation. The police maintained that they are still looking for the accused.Local MLA Banoth Shankar Naik and Mahabubabad district TRS president and MP Maloth Kavitha visited the Mahabubabad Government Area Hospital and commiserated with the victim’s family members.