The Bhongir police on Wednesday took the custody of Marri Srinivas Reddy, the sole accused in the serial killing of teenage girls in Hajipur village for further investigation.
The accused, who was lodged in Warangal prison since May 1, was transferred to five-day police custody as per the order of the Principal District Judge, Nalgonda on Tuesday. He will be in Bhongir police custody till May 13. Investigating officer and Bhongir ACP Bhujanga Rao earlier told The Hindu that the present custody will be restricted to investigating the murder of 14-year-old girl.
On April 26, the minor’s body was found buried in an abandoned well in the village, a day after she had gone missing.
But her exhumation and further investigation led to the unearthing of the remains of two more victims from the well. Srinivas Reddy was later arrested on suspicion. Given the tension and public anger, the police said there was little time to extract information from the accused, and soon Srinivas was remanded.
“Only the recovered material could be sent to forensic laboratories,” the officer said.
But with scientific results of the most recent crime ready, the first thing will be to correlate victim’s bodily injuries, real evidence and testing the accused’s links with the crime.
"Genital injuries, DNA profile, biological evidence - seminal stains, saliva and blood, matched with suspect will establish sexual assault, and post-mortem reports will conclude nature of death," another officer said.
Srinivas Reddy will be produced before the Nalgonda court on May 13 when the custody period expires, for a fresh remand order.