Dasari Ravi Babu, Dy. SP and prime accused in the murder of rowdy-sheeter K. Satyanarayana Raju alias Gedela Raju, has confessed to his crime and said he had paid ₹10 lakh to Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Raju (A2), to avoid harassment for money, according to the police.
The Dy.SP was presented before the media by the city police on Saturday afternoon. Ravi Babu (A1) had issued two cheques to Srinivasa Raju from his son’s account on October 3. Three days before the murder, Srinivasa Raju had encashed one cheque and paid ₹4 lakh to the hired killers, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-II) T. Ravi Kumar Murthy told the media.
Ravi Babu was produced in court and sent to remand for 14 days. Ravi Babu, during his stint as Inspector of the Elamanchili Circle from 2000 to 2003, developed extra marital relationship with Padmalatha, daughter of former MLA Kakara Nookaraju. He reportedly promised to marry her but avoided her later.
Jagadish, husband of Padmalatha, severed his relationship with her and died of an illness in 2008.
The prime accused sought the help of Srinivasa Raju to settle the issue with Padmalatha by offering her money. He also paid some money by selling his land. But Padmalatha insisted on marriage and Ravi Babu used Gedela Raju to eliminate her on ₹1 crore contract and paid ₹50,00,000 to Gedela Raju through Srinivasa Raju. Gedela Raju hatched a plan and developed friendship with the Nookaraju family. He invited Padmalatha to his house in August last year and made her stay with him on the pretext of settling her dispute with Ravi Babu.
He slow poisoned her through food and made her family members believe that she became sick due to food poisoning. She died subsequently and he passed it off as cardiac arrest and her family members cremated the body. Later, Gedela Raju started demanding the remaining ₹50,00,000. Ravi Babu could not meet the demand and asked Srinivasa Raju to find a solution to the problem. Srinivasa Raju hired a rowdy-sheeter Mahesh and paid him ₹4 lakh to kill Gedela Raju on October 3. Gedela Raju was called to Srinivasa Raju’s office where the hired killers beat him to death with rods and knives.