Hyderabad: Youth Congress leader M. Vikram Goud and five others involved in the allegedly sham shooting case were questioned by a team of West Zone police on Wednesday. A local court allowed police custody of Goud for interrogation. West Zone police have booked a case against Goud under the Arms Act and for conspiracy.
“Five people, including the shooter from Indore, who were arrested earlier, are being grilled. More evidence is being collected to build a foolproof case against them,” an investigating officer said.
On June 28, Vikram Goud had allegedly staged an attack on himself with the help of five others, including the shooter.
The police claim that the prime motive was to gain popularity and sympathy of people in his constituency so that he would get an MLA ticket in the next election. He also wanted to get a gun licence and make the police go after his enemies and rivals.
Mr Goud has allegedly invested several crores in mining projects in Odisha, and owed large sums of money to many people. Police surmise that he thought he could gain the sympathy of the financiers with the attempted murder drama.
Police say Mr Goud planned the attack and paid Rs 5 lakh as advance to his accomplices who would get a total of Rs 50 lakh if the plan was successful.
The shooter Raees Khan was to fire three times at certain harmless parts of Mr Goud's body. But the third bullet, instead of brushing past the right side of his stomach, penetrated the stomach and was lodged in the spinal cord.
