Obulesu wanted to earn a fast buck

Nithyananda Reddy was a randomly selected target

Call it providence or what have you but it was a well planned operation that went kaput at the execution level.

That the kidnap bid on Aurobindo Pharma honcho K Nityananda Reddy from Hyderabad’s busiest KBR Park by Obulesu, a former Greyhounds constable, misfired is nothing but stroke of luck for the ‘victim’.

Obulesu who was nabbed by the police on the borders of Kurnool and Anantapur told the police during the interrogation that he had spent the entire night in the park with the singular intention of kidnapping the first VVIP he would run into.

Demanding ransom from the affluent family was his intention. When he saw Nityananda Reddy coming out of his sleek car, he firmed him up as the target. At that point of time he did not know who the biggie except that he travelled in a luxury car.

The 37-year-old assailant, a native of Tiruvegalapuram of Kadapa district, was enrolled as a constable in XI Battalion, APSP in 1998. Later he joined Greyhounds in 2002 where he worked till March this year. Subsequently, he was repatriated to Central Police Line (CPL), Amberpet on health grounds.

According to Police Commissioner P Mahender Reddy during his tenure at Greyhounds, he stole an AK-47 and a loaded magazine from the Bell of Arms of Greyhounds unit at Gandipet last December.

Obulesu’s plan failed due to the presence of mind of Reddy and his brother who resisted the attempt. When the assailant realised that he was in trouble, he ran for cover, availed a moving auto-rickshaw to SR Nagar from where he boarded an RTC bus to Imliban and took another bus to Kurnool.

What led the police to him was a small purchase at a mall in the city a couple of days back.