Vijayawada: Close on the heels of Vikram's Goud's stage-managed murder attempt drama, an ex-journalist in Vijayawada also planned a murder attempt on himself to extort money from his relative.

According to the police, ex-journalist Shyam Kumar runs an evening daily in association with his relative Devasetty Subba Rao. Rao borrowed Rs 20 lakh from a bank on the surety of Shyam Kumar's property. As Rao did not repay the loan, the officials issued a notice to Shyam to seize his property. However, Shyam promised the officials to repay Rs 15 lakh.

Developing grudge on Subba Rao, Shyam hatched a plan to involve Rao in a murder case and extort money from him. He then asked his friends Nagendra and Krishna Prasad to engage a killer gang to attack him. A seven-person gang - Ashok, Praveen, J. Vamshi Krisna, Ch. Satish Kumar, A. Naveen, P. Shiva Ramakrishna and P. Siddhartha - was made to execute the plan for Rs 2 lakh.

The gang attacked Shyam at his house on August 20. He got stabbed at ''pre-decided'' places . After being shifted to a hospital, Shyam called Rao's son, who is in the US, over phone demanding Rs 40 lakh for not booking a case against his father..

Shyam also told the police that Subba Rao tried to kill him with his goons. However, the police found his statements incoherent and unconvincing. When they questioned him probingly, he broke down and admitted to the plan that he hatched.

The police later arrested Shyam and his two friends. A hunt was also launched to nab the seven-member gang.