Realtor shot at over land dispute

Attacker was under influence of alcohol; he is now in custody

The injured Sreenivas Reddy (33) is being operated upon at Manipal hospital and he is said to be in a serious condition.

The accused, Venkatarama Reddy, who pulled the trigger, is in the custody of Jeevan Bimanagar police.

Sreenivas Reddy is a resident of Govindappa Lane, Kodihalli (behind Leela Palace) while Rama Reddy is from Thippasandra. Sources said, Sreenivas Reddy is the brother of ex-councillor Muni Reddy. He is married and has two children.

The accused, Venkatarama Reddy, while confessing to having pulled the trigger,  told police that there was a long standing land dispute between the brothers -- Sreenivas Reddy and Muni Reddy. They wanted Venkatarama Reddy to mediate and sort it out. Many a time they had talked about it but it had remained unsolved.

At about 8.10 pm, Sreenivas Reddy, along with his friends Manju and Manohar, landed at Venkatarama Reddy’s house. While broaching the topic of land dispute, Sreenivas Reddy came out with some ideas which Venkatarama Reddy bluntly disagreed. Immediately, the three attacked and overpowered Venkatarama Reddy. At one stage, they pulled Venkatarama Reddy out of the house and dragged him till the gate. He managed to wriggle out and ran upstairs where he had kept his .25 revolver. He brought it out and pulled the trigger twice.

The police confirmed that, Venkatarama Reddy was under the influence of alcohol and in fact, he had invited Sreenivas Reddy for a discussion. One of the bullets hit his stomach while the other scraped his chest and hit the wall.

Police have taken up an attempt-to-murder case. Manju and Manohar are being interrogated.

Three years ago, a labourer had died when Rama Reddy had opened fired near Hogenikal. Rama Reddy has denied that the labourer was killed but the jurisdictional police have sent a team to Tamil Nadu to get the details of the case.