North Zone IG Y Nagireddy informed that both Bittu Srinu and Kunta Srinivas had planned for the murder of the couple since Vamana Rao was a common enemy of the duo
Peddapalli: Bittu Srinu alias Thulasigari Srinivas confessed to this involvement in hatching a plan and providing a car and sickles to carry out the killing of advocate couple Gattu Vamana Rao and PV Nagamani on Wednesday, police said.
In a statement released to media on Monday, North Zone IG Y Nagireddy informed that both Bittu Srinu and Kunta Srinivas had planned for the murder of the couple since Vamana Rao was a common enemy of the duo. Bittu Srinu, in interrogation, informed that he was continuing as the Chairman of Putta Lingamma Charitable Trust since 2016 and used to organize various charity activities in Manthani area.
Vamana Rao used to make a vicious campaign against the trust stating that illegal activities have been done in the name of trust and spread messages on WhatsApp groups. Bittu Srinivas used to get Rs 30,000 income per month by arranging a tractor in Manthani gram panchayat from 2015 to April 2019. Vamana Rao mounted pressure on gram panchayat officials to remove tractor from the panchayat. Srinivas lost the monthly income.
On the other hand, Kunta Srinivas also faced similar kind of problems from Vamana Rao in Gunjapadugu village during the last few years. Lawyer couple targeted Srinivas and filed a case against him in Hyderabad over a phone call issue. Besides stalling the construction of a temple in Gunjapadugu, the construction works of Srinivas’ house were also stalled in the middle by issuing notices from gram panchayat. Vamana Rao arranged a flex by printing gram panchayat’s notice on it in the village.
A conflict cropped up in the village over the election of a new chairman for Ramaswamy Gopalaswamy temple. Villagers elected Veldi Vasantha Rao as new chairman by abolishing the old committee headed by Vamana Rao’s brother. In this regard, the advocate couple had planned to file a case in court. Bitu Srinu and Kunta Srinivas, who became friends during the last six years, used to share their problems while consuming liquor. Another accused in the case, Shivandula Chiranjeevi also used to join them frequently.
Bittu Srinu had assured Kunta Srinivas to provide any kind of assistance to kill Vamana Rao couple. Based on Kunta Srinivas’ instructions, Bittu Srinu prepared two sickles with iron plates of a tractor four months ago. Four months ago, Vamana Rao along with 15 members came to Manthani court in three vehicles and later went to Gunjapadu village. After finding him, Chiranjeevi informed the matter to duo.
Kunta Srinivas waited in Gunjapadu bus stand to kill Vamana Rao but dropped his plans since the latter was accompanied by a number of people. On February 17, they successfully completed their task. After coming to know about the lawyer couple’s arrival to Manthani court, Kunta Srinivas crosschecked with one Kunta Lachaiah, who was present on the court premises and informed the matter to Bittu Srinu.
Bittu Srinu asked Chiranjeevi to come to Manthani bus stand along with sickles. Chiranjeevi, who left the spot along with sickles in Bittu Srinu’s car, picked up Kunta Srinivas in the middle. Both followed the couple and killed them near Kalvacheral of Ramagiri mandal. When Kunta Srinivas informed about the murder of the couple to Bittu Srinu, the later asked them to flee to Maharastra. Informing that the investigation is being done in a comprehensive and scientific way, IG Nagireddy informed to question more witnesses if necessary. They were also taking the help of forensic science lab experts and the cybercrime investigation wing.
The police on Monday filed a petition in the Manthani court seeking the custody of three accused involved in the murder of advocate couple Gattu Vamana Rao and his wife PV Nagamani last week.
Kunta Srinivas, Shivandula Chiranjeevi and Akkapaka Kumar, who were arrested in connection with the murder, were produced in the Manthani court on Friday night and were remanded to 14 days of judicial custody. As several issues pertaining to the murder case were unclear, the police filed the custody petition. The court is likely to take a decision on the petition on Tuesday.
On the other hand, the interrogation of another accused Bittu Srinu continued in the Ramagundam police commissionerate headquarters. Police sources said Srinu was not revealing any details to the investigation officers. He was arrested based on a confession of Kunta Srinivas for providing his car and sickles to Kunta Srinivas and S Chiranjeevi, who attacked a lawyer couple and murdered them near Kalvacheral of Ramagiri mandal. Bittu Srinivas brought sickles from a fruit shop in Manthani owned by Manthani Municipal Vice-Chairman Kumar.
The police had already examined the video footage of CCTV cameras near a fruit shop in Manthani town and found Bittu Srinu giving sickles to the accused. Based on the video footage, the police took him into custody on February 19. A seven-member team of officers is interrogating Srinu. Except for accepting to have providing the vehicle and also the murder weapons, sources said he was not revealing any further details including the motto behind the killings or who prompted him to arrange the vehicle and weapons to the accused.
It is learnt that police also questioned municipal vice-chairman Kumar for whose fruits shop Bittu Srinu picked up the sickles. Kumar reportedly informed the police that he gave sickles to Bittu Srinu as per latter’s request to cut coconuts and that he was not aware that they would be used for the murders.
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