The police say Vikram Goud had meticulously planned attack for four months and paid hired guns Rs 50 lakh
Vikram Goud, the son of a former Andhra Pradesh minister, was rushed to Hyderabad's Apollo Hospital with multiple bullet injuries last week. But once the police initiated a probe, Vikram, from victim, turned main suspect.
The police say Vikram had meticulously planned the attack for four months and paid hired guns Rs 50 lakh. Vikram, who reportedly wanted to contest state assembly elections in 2019, aspired to gain public sympathy through the shooting incident, the police has claimed. Vikram is a youth Congress leader and his father Mukesh Goud was a minister in the government of YS Rajasekhar Reddy.
"This is a unique case where victim himself has paid supari, engaged people, purchased weapon and oranised this shooting on himself. May be he underestimated the police. But he made mistakes in the course of planning, organising and executing this plan," said Hyderabad Police Commissioner Mahendar Reddy.
The police had said that Vikram Goud and his wife were getting ready to visit a place of worship and he was waiting on the ground floor when the attack took place last Friday. The weapon used for the attack was recovered from a water body where it was thrown. Police teams have arrested five out of nine accused from five states.
Police say Vikram Goud had repeatedly convinced the men he hired that they would be able to carry out successfully the operation of shooting at him. He even reportedly told them that he must be shot at thrice as three is his lucky number.
Police also suspect Vikram, who is deep in debt, had hoped that the shooting would ease off pressure from debtors. He is now accused under multiple sections of law and will be arrested as soon as he is discharged from hospital.