'Constable targeted Reddy randomly, by his expensive car'

Police constable P Obulesu, arrested for trying to kidnap the vice-chairman of Aurobindo Pharma K Nityananda Reddy, has allegedly told his interrogators that he targeted the latter randomly, seeing his high-end car.

Obulesu, who has worked with anti-Naxal Greyhounds force in the past, was arrested in Kurnool district and brought here today. According to police, he had committed at least one successful kidnapping earlier and got a hefty ransom.

"He (Reddy) was not a target....The accused randomly selected his victims, going by luxury cars (to infer that the person is rich and a large ransom could be obtained)," Hyderabad police commissioner M Mahender Reddy said here this evening.
 

In an audacious bid, a man wielding an AK-47 rifle tried to kidnap Reddy when latter got into his car after a morning walk at Kasu Brahmananda Reddy Park here on November 19.

Reddy could fend him off with the help of his brother. Bullets went off from the rifle during the scuffle, though nobody was hurt; police later identified Obelusu from the CCTV footage.

The commissioner told reporters that interrogation revealed that Obulesu had abducted a person in February this year in the same area -- KBR Park -- and released him after he was paid Rs 10 lakh.

Obulesu, presently deputed to the Excise Department, had a lavish lifestyle. He stole the AK-47 from Greyhounds unit at Gandipet in December 2013 to use it in extortions.

He concealed the weapon under rocks on the outskirts of Orvakal in Kurnool and visited the spot often to check if it was in place, the commissioner said.

He committed kidnappings by himself without any accomplice, according to the interrogators.