an armed group, initially comprising those dispossessed of inam lands around koilkuntla, was led by reddy's right-hand man vadde obanna in july 1846. the acting collector for the area lord cochrane, believed that reddy had material support from fellow pensioners in hyderabad and kurnool, whose land rights had also been appropriated. the group soon attracted support from the peasantry and was reported by british authorities to have rampaged in koilkuntla, looting the treasury there and evading the police before killing several officers at mittapally. they also plundered rudravaram before moving to an area near to almore, pursued by the british military forces who then surrounded them.