Madanapalle RDO Office Fire Case: 2 Accused Remanded Till April 1
Investigators found that the fire had been a deliberate act aimed at destroying evidence of alleged irregularities.
TIRUPATI: A Special CID Court in Chittoor on Thursday remanded two of the accused in Madanapalle RDO office fire case to judicial custody till April 1.
Madhava Reddy (A3) and Muni Tukaram (A4) had been produced before the court a day after their arrest by CID officials at a toll plaza in Chandragiri mandal. The duo had later been shifted to Tirupati for questioning before being presented in court, sources said.
The case relates to the fire that broke out on July 21, 2024, at the Madanapalle RDO office in Annamayya district. Over 2,400 land-related files had been destroyed in that fire, including records of assigned lands, 22-A category lands and mutation files.
Investigators found that the fire had been a deliberate act aimed at destroying evidence of alleged irregularities.
Earlier in the probe, former RDOs M.S. Murali and C. Hari Prasad, along with senior assistant Gautam Tej Naidu, had been named as accused in the case. Ruling out an electrical short circuit, investigators charged that engine oil had been used to accelerate the blaze. Further, they flagged lapses such as non-functional CCTV cameras.
Following the incident, officials concerned had been suspended. RDO Murali had been arrested and later released on bail. Gautam Tej spent several months in custody before obtaining bail.
The probe examined the role of Tukaram and Madhava Reddy as political intermediaries. Tukaram had left for the United States after the incident, while Madhava Reddy had earlier been detained but not remanded due to lack of evidence.
