Hyderabad: An officer of the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police has been appointed to probe into the sensational murder of lawyer couple Gattu Vamana Rao and Nagamani to ensure fair investigation. The couple was murdered in broad daylight on the outskirts of Kalvacherla village in Ramagiri Mandal on Wednesday afternoon.
Sources said the personnel of Ramagiri and Manthani police stations have been asked to keep away from the probe following allegations of laxity in the investigation. The personnel of Manthani police station were asked not to assist in the investigation as the couple had filed a PIL on the alleged custodial death of a 53-year-old Dalit, Seelam Rangaiah in the police station.
Sources said the Police Department took a serious note of the negligence of the Ramagiri police under whose jurisdiction the murder took place. After the incident, the police personnel of Ramagiri and Manthani police stations drew flak from all quarters. Given the media glare the case has attracted, the Police Department asked the personnel from these two police stations to stay away from investigations in the case.
Half a dozen teams comprising police personnel from other stations have been constituted to assist the ACP in conducting a detailed investigation. The department has also received the original videos of the incident in which Rao was seen lying in a pool of blood on the main road.
Based on the video and the complaint given by Rao’s father G Kishan Rao, the police booked a case under Sections 34 (Common Intention), 120B (Conspiracy), 302 (Murder), 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and arrested Srinivas and his aides Ch Chiranjeevi and A Kumar.
The videos were also sent to the Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory (TSFSL) for further examination. A senior police official said the department was probing the case from all angles and efforts were on to verify the call data records of the arrested persons to ascertain the involvement of other persons in the case.