VISAKHAPATNAM: The Chodavaram police solved the murder case of Mande Sreenivas alias Noodles Sreenu within 48 hours on Thursday. A police team led by Chodavaram Circle Inspector (CI) Srinivasa Rao arrested five persons in the connection.

The arrested persons were identified as K Nageswara Rao of Chodavaram, K Gopalakrishna, student of Munagapaka, K Manikanta, O Apparao and Manga Pawan Kumar (auto drivers), all three are from Chodavaram. Except Nageswara Rao, who is around 40 years old, the other four were in their 20s. 

On Tuesday night, Noodles Sreenu, who was proceeding on a motorcycle with one Padma, was waylaid by two motorcycle-borne youths on the Laxmipuram route near Dwarakanagar in Chodavaram who beat him to death with iron rods. According to the police, the deceased, who was an RTI activist, had been harassing Nageswara Rao over the allotment of some shops under the panchayat quota. 

Nageswara Rao hatched a plan to eliminate Noodles Sreenu, and allegedly struck a deal with the four youths for a payment of Rs 2 lakh. “He paid Rs 35,000 as advance and promised to pay the balance after the job was executed,” Srinivasa Rao said.