“Operation Firing” Backfires Congress Leader Vikram Goud, Lands Him In Jail 

Hyderabad: In a tale that is straight out of a crime thriller, Congress youth leader Vikram Goud has stage-managed the firing incident. He roped in a gang from Rayalaseema and planned a shootout to gain sympathy from his creditors and the people of his constituency, City Commissioner Mahender Reddy said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference here in the city, Mahender Reddy briefed the scene-to-scene details of the unsavoury drama. Vikram Goud had hired the gang belonging to Anantapur and promised to pay Rs 50,000 to execute the plan, he said. Vikram Goud had even gone overboard by promising the gang that they would be given film opportunities.

Here is the blow-by-blow account of how Vikram Goud planned the shootout:

- Vikram first contacted one Prasad, a native of Kadapa district, who introduced Govind Reddy to him.

- Vikram handed over Rs 5 lakh to Govind Reddy and assured him to pay the remaining Rs 50 lakh if the plan is successfully executed.

- Since Govind had no prior experience in executing such plans, he approached Nanda Kumar, who was an offender involved in seven criminal cases.

- Govind handed over Rs 3.5 lakh to Nanda Kumar to carry out the plan.

- On July 6, the gang took a connecting flight to Indore city in Madhya Pradesh via Mumbai to purchase a weapon. They met one Rayees Khan and gave him Rs 30,000 for weapon. He immediately delivered the weapon with ammunition.

- To avoid being caught by the police, the gang decided to take the road route and entrusted the task to one Venkataramana alias Chinna. To ensure further security to Chinna, Rayees Khan engaged his relative Javed to accompany Chinna from Indore to Hyderabad. As the duo arrived in Balanagar, Hyderabad on July 8, Vikram, who was constantly in touch with the gang, received the weapon in person.

- Before carrying out the firing, Vikram and his gang members conducted a recce at his residence in Banjara Hills. Vikram also briefed the members as to which route they should take soon after the "firing".

- On the intervening night of July 27-28, Vikram parked his car and asked his watchman not to close the gates as his friends are about to meet him. The moment watchman went to sleep in his room. Vikram called the gang and the plan was executed.

- After the firing incident, Sheik Ahmed and Rayees Khan took different routes to Hakimpet where they had thrown the weapon into a pond and abandoned the bike and left.

The Hyderbad police framed Vikram Goud as Accused No 1 while Nanda Kumar is A2, Ahmed Khan A3, Rayees Khan A4, Babujaan A5 and Govind Reddy as A 6 in the case.