2 Accused Remanded Till April 1
What are you doing? The Special CID Court in Chittoor on Thursday remanded two of the accused in the Madanapalle RDO office fire case to judicial custody till April 1.
Madhava Reddy (A3) and Muni Tukaram (A4) were produced in court a day after they were arrested by CID officials at a toll booth in Chandragiri mandal. The duo was later transferred to Tirupati for questioning before being produced in court, sources said.
The case relates to a fire that broke out on July 21, 2024, at the Madanapalle RDO office in Annamayya district. More than 2,400 land-related files were destroyed in this fire, including records of allotted lands, category 22-A lands and mutation files.
Investigators determined that the fire was a deliberate act intended to destroy evidence of alleged wrongdoing.
Earlier in the investigation, former RDOs MS Murali and C. Hari Prasad and senior assistant Gautam Tej Naidu were named as accused in the case. Investigators ruled out the possibility of an electrical short circuit and suggested that engine oil was used to accelerate the fire. They also flagged defects such as non-functioning CCTV cameras.
Following the incident, the relevant officials were suspended. RDO Murali was arrested and later released on bail. Gautam Tej remained in custody for several months before being released on bail.
The investigation examined the roles of Tukaram and Madhava Reddy as political middlemen. While Tukaram went to the United States after the incident, Madhava Reddy was detained earlier but was not arrested due to lack of evidence.
