Telangana: High Court advocate couple stabbed to death in Peddapalli

Gattu Vamana Rao and his wife Gattu Nagamani were attacked with knives and stabbed indiscriminately by unidentified persons while they were traveling towards Peddapalli by car

Peddapalli: In a brutal daylight murder, a couple, both advocates practising in the Telangana High Court, was stabbed to death by unidentified persons near Kalwacherala of Ramagiri mandal on Wednesday afternoon.

Gattu Vamana Rao (55) and his wife Nagamani (50) were stabbed multiple times by the assailants around 2.30 pm while they were returning to Hyderabad from their native village Gunjapadugu in Manthani mandal. They were shifted to a hospital in Peddapalli; however, they died on the way. The couple does not have any children.

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A video clip of Vamana Rao lying in a pool of blood on the road went viral.

According to a woman eyewitness to the horrific murder, the assailants, who were waiting in a car near the spot, attacked the vehicle when the driver slowed down at a speed-breaker on the outskirts of Kalwacherala, about 16 km from Manthani. While one assailant broke the windowpane to open the door, the panic-stricken driver ran away. Subsequently, the assailants stabbed the couple several times before fleeing from the spot.

While Nagamani was trapped in the vehicle, Vamana Rao came out of the car and fell on the ground. He requested passersby to call for an ambulance. When they asked him about the assailants, he was heard mentioning the name of a Kunta Srinivas.

Ramagundam Police Commissioner V Satyanarayana said six special teams were formed to track down the assailants. Stating that he was confident of arresting the culprits soon, he said all the details, including the motive, would be known only after the arrest of the accused. “They will be caught irrespective of their connections with people in high positions,” he said.

Old rivalry could be one of the reasons for the double murder since the deceased were involved in some controversial cases. Besides filing disproportionate assets case against Zilla Parishad Chairman Putta Madhukar, they had also filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the alleged lockup death of Sheelam Rangaiah.

Rangaiah, who was arrested in connection with a wild animal hunting case, was found dead in Manthani police station. Based on the PIL filed by Nagamani, the High Court instructed Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar to probe the case and submit a report.
Later, police led by Manthani CI Akunuri Mahender collected blood samples from the murder spot.

Bar council, association condemn attack

The Bar Council of Telangana State, Bar Association of Ranga Reddy District, City Civil Court, Hyderabad, City Civil Court, Secunderabad and Metropolitan Criminal Court Nampally have condemned the brutal daylight attack on advocates G Vaman Rao and G Nagamani on Wednesday.

The Associations unanimously decided to abstain from work on Thursday in protest against brutal attack. Demanding immediate arrest of all the persons involved in the brutal murder, expeditious trial and punishment to the accused, the associations also demanded the State and Central governments to bring an enactment for protection of advocates against such heinous incidents.

The Bar Council of TS, seeking immediate arrest of the culprits, said the country has been witnessing frequent attacks on advocates. It also demanded the enactment of an Advocates Protection Act to safeguard the advocates community who discharge their duties to protect the rights of the citizens, it said in a statement here.

MLA holds police responsible for advocate couple’s murder

Manthani MLA D Sridhar Babu held Director General of Police and Ramagundam Police Commissioner responsible for the murder of High Court advocate couple Gattu Vamana Rao and his wife Nagamani. The MLA was speaking after visiting the murder spot and Peddapalli government hospital where the bodies have been kept. Finding fault with the police for neglecting the scene of offence, he wondered so as to how the police can say the accused would be arrested soon without collecting clues from the spot.

Alleging that the murder took place because police failed to provide protection to the couple, he said the police had tried to register cases against Vamana Rao as the latter filed a PIL on Sheelam Rangaiah’s lockup death and was trying to file more PILs. However, the High Court instructed the police against registering a case on the advocate. Moreover, the court directed cops to provide security to the advocate till the verdict of Rangaiah case was delivered. Sridhar Babu demanded that the government order a CBI probe into the murder case.

 

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