Police arrested four out of the seven suspects, including the husband of Dangeti Sri Gowthami (24), who was allegedly fatally knocked down on the town outskirts, 18 months ago.
They produced the suspects – Sajja Veera Venkata Satyanarayana alias Bujji, Bollampalli Ram Prasad alias Ramesh, Balam Pratap (Narsapuram ZPTC member) and Andrew. Three other suspects in the case – Sandeep, Durga Prasad and K. Lakshman (driver) – are at large.
Superintendent of Police M. Ravi Prakash said Satyanarayana married Sri Gowthami in second marriage a few years ago. However, differences cropped up between the couple and the accused hatched a plan to eliminate his wife.
Another accused, Ram Prasad, proposed to marry Gowthami’s sister Pavani, but she rejected his proposal. Nursing a grudge, Ram Prasad too joined hands to kill the sisters, he said.
Accordingly, Andrew hired a four-wheeler and the driver, from Visakhapatnam, to kill the two women. The accused avoided using mobile phones to evade police dragnet. The remaining accused in the case had done a recce and gave the plan to the driver. The gang planned to portray the murder as an accident.
When Sri Gowthami and Pavani were proceeding to Narsapuram, the four-wheeler driver hit them and dragged them into the roadside canal on Palakol-Narsapuram Road, on January 18, 2017. Both women were critically injured in the incident and Gowthami died, the SP said.
Following a complaint, the police registered a case.
A hunt has been launched to nab the remaining accused in the case, said Palakol Rural circle inspector, K. Rajani Kumar, who investigated the case.
“Police initially registered the case under Section 304 (a) IPC (Causing death by negligence), and later altered it to Sections 302 (Murder), 120 (Criminal Conspiracy) and 307 IPC (Attempt to Murder)”, the CI added.