Chittoor Mayor murder case: Five men sentenced to death in AP
The murders occurred inside Chittoor Municipal Corporation office on November 17, 2025.
Chittoor Sixth Additional District Sessions Court sentenced five men to death in the 2015 murder case of Chittoor Mayor Katari Anuradha and her husband Katari Mohan on Friday.
Judge N Srinivas Rao said that the murders of the couple were among the ‘rarest of rare cases’. The court handed the death penalty to the accused Chandrasekhar, GS Venkatachalapathi, Jayaprakash Reddy, Manjunath and Venkatesh for the murders inside Chittoor Municipal Corporation office a decade ago.
In the attack that occurred in November 2015, their nephew Chandrasekhar was the prime accused.
What happened on November 2015?
The prosecution detailed the horrific murders on November 17, 2015 stating that the accused men entered the municipal office in burqas and shot the mayor dead in her chamber and when her husband tried to intervene, he was chased and stabbed multiple times. He succumbed to his injuries later.
The initial investigation charged 23 people in the case and later whittled it down to 21. Detailed probe revealed that a long standing family dispute was the motive behind the crime.
The five men were convicted last week and death sentences were pronounced on Friday.
Katari Hemalatha, the daughter-in-law of the victims, said that they welcomed the judgment. She stated that the verdict has strengthened their belief in the judiciary.