Cops detain 10 persons for alleged involvement in Venkatapur blaze case

Though the police, who have intensified the probe into the incident, are yet to confirm the nature of involvement of the 10 persons

Mancherial: Ten persons have reportedly been detained in connection with the midnight blaze that claimed six lives in Venkatapur of Mandamarri in Mancherial.

Though the police, who have intensified the probe into the incident, are yet to confirm the nature of involvement of the 10, sources said the detained persons included Srujana, the wife of coal miner Shanthaiah, one of the victims of the blaze. The others were Srujana’s father Anjaiah, her daughters Mounika and Radhika, sons Raj Kumar and Deepak Kumar and Srujana’s paramour Laxman along with his friend Ramesh. Two habitual offenders from Luxettipet were also among those detained and who were being grilled by investigating officials.

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It is learnt that Srujana nursed a grudge against Shanthaiah for having an illicit affair with Masu Padma and for declining his coal mine job to her son. She is said to have offered land worth Rs.30 lakh to Laxman and the others who Laxman and Ramesh roped in to eliminate Shanthaiah.

“Srujana and Laxman jointly planned to eliminate Shanthaiah for being in a live-in relationship with Padma, that too with the knowledge of her husband Shivaiah. They decided to kill Shivaiah for allowing the other two to continue with the affair. They paid Rs.2 lakh to the two from Luxettipet as advance for the job. It is not clear why Padma’s niece Mounika and her daughters Himabindu and Sweety too were killed,” police sources said.

Meanwhile, the police have found from CCTV visuals that four of the suspects bought 40 litres of petrol in two plastic cans from a fuel filling station in the Coal Chemical Complex area in Naspur mandal on Friday night. The four, along with another person, then took an auto-rickshaw to Venkatapur and are suspected to have committed the murder. Police, who are yet to officially confirm the detention of 10 persons, however said three persons were in custody.

“Three suspects including Srujana and Laxman have been detained so far. They are being interrogated to find out many persons were involved in the crime. The provocation behind the crime is the illicit affair of Shanthaiah with Padma and his reluctance to transfer his job and property to his legal heirs. More details will be disclosed in a day or two,” a senior police official told Telangana Today.

Police said the suspected angle of poisoning and killing the six before setting the hut on fire was almost ruled out. They are planning to reconstruct the crime scene by taking the suspects to the spot on Monday.

Meanwhile, though the funerals of Shivaiah and four others including Padma were conducted on Saturday itself, the funeral of Shanthaiah is yet to be conducted. His body has been preserved in the Mancherial government general hospital morgue.