In a joint operation, Vijayawada Police and the Delhi Police Crime Branch arrested four contract killers — residents of Delhi’s Kalyanpuri and Trilokpuri—and three others for their involvement in the killing of three members of a family on the outskirts of Vijayawada on September 24. The incident had sent shockwaves through Andhra Pradesh as the contract shooters had chased and intercepted the taxi in which the victims were travelling on the busy NH-16 and pumped them with bullets, killing all three on the spot.
The dead men were identified as G Nageswara Rao, his son G Maraiah and nephew P Maraiah.
Police said the contract shooters were hired by two Vijayawada-based brothers — Butham Sriniwas Rao and London-based Buthum Govinda. They were seeking revenge for the murder of their brother, hotelier Durgarao. He was hacked to death on April 6, allegedly by those travelling in the taxi. Police had earlier arrested the trio in connection with Butham Durgarao’s murder. In fact, the three men had arrived at Gannavaram airport near Vijayawada the day they were murdered to appear in a court for a hearing in Durgarao murder case.
“The contract money of Rs 1 crore had allegedly been paid by a London-based member of the Butham family,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav said on Tuesday in Delhi. Vijayawada Deputy Commissioner of Police Tafseer Iqbal said the Butham brothers approached their contacts living in Kalyanpuri to hire the contract killers. “They thought that if they hired someone in Vijayawada or Andhra, police would crack the case. So they tapped some people in the Telugu community in Delhi,’’ Iqbal said. During their investigation, the Vijayawada police found the involvement of some persons in Delhi and contacted the Crime Branch. In a joint operation, the seven accused were arrested from Delhi over the past few days. They are Partap Singh (35), Dharamveer (32), Nitin (27), Neeraj (22), Manjeet Singh (35), Satish Kumar (27), Pankaj (22). Partap, police said, is the main sharpshooter and he had made two attempts — in April and June — to eliminate the three. In April, just days after the murder of Durgarao, Partap had gone to Vijayawada where the three were staying at a hotel. Pratap told police that he could not fire at them because of the tight security at the hotel. In June, he waited outside the Vijayawada court where the three were to appear, but as the magistrate was on leave that day, the three did not attend court. Police also arrested Shiva Kumar, who negotiated the deal for Butham brothers . “The killers arrived by flight in Vijayawada lay in wait. When the victims arrived from Mumbai to go to court, Butham Srinivas Rao identified the targets and left. The killers chased their vehicle in another SUV and shot them,’’ DCP Iqbal said.
Indian Express | October , 2014
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