Chittoor (Andhra Pradesh), Oct 31 A court here sentenced to death five convicts in the sensational 2015 case relating to the murder of then Mayor Katari Anuradha and her husband Katari Mohan.
The Chittoor XI Additional District and Sessions Judge N. Srinivasa Rao pronounced the order on Friday.
Sriram Chandra Sekhar alias Chintu, Venkatachalapathi, Jaya Prakash Reddy, Manjunath and Venkatesh have been sentenced to death.
Last week, the court had convicted them in the sensational case. Then Chittoor Mayor Anuradha and her husband Katari Mohan were brutally murdered on November 17, 2015.
An armed gang attacked the couple inside the Chittoor Municipal Corporation office. Anuradha was shot dead inside her chamber, while Mohan was chased and stabbed when he tried to flee. The double murder in broad daylight had sent shockwaves across the state.
The court was to announce quantum of punishment on Thursday but the same was deferred citing procedural reasons.
The convicts were brought to the court amid tight security, with police enforcing a three-tier cordon around the premises due to the sensitive nature of the case.
Initially, 23 people were named accused in the case. One of the accused Kasaram Ramesh was discharged by the court while another accused S. Srinivasa Chary died during the trial.
Out of remaining 21 accused, five were convicted. The charges against 16 other accused for sheltering the killers and providing them money and weapons could not be proved due to lack of evidence. They were acquitted by the court.
Main accused Sriram Chandra Sekhar alias Chintu is the nephew of Katari Mohan, who was the vice-president of Telugu Desam Party’s Chittoor district unit.
Personal, financial and political disputes between Katari Mohan and his nephew led to the gruesome double murder.
During the trial, the court examined 122 witnesses. Two of the five convicts have been in jail since their arrest while three others were on bail.
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