Hajipur triple rape-murder: Telangana man gets death sentence

Accused Marri Srinivas Reddy
HYDERABAD: A designated fast track court at Nalgonda on Thursday pronounced death sentence for a 28-year-old man, accused of rape and murder of three minor girls, at Hajipur village in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana.
The court awarded the death penalty to the accused Marri Srinivas Reddy in two cases and life imprisonment in one case.
In the afternoon, the judge called Marri Srinivas Reddy and asked him if he had anything to say as he had been found guilty of the three crimes. "I have not committed the crime. I had to admit to the crime because of torture by the police," he said. "I have my aged parents to take care of, he told the judge. "I do not even know where they are," he said.
More than 100 witnesses were examined by the court.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat produced evidence of Marri Srinivas Reddy's involvement in the rape and murder of three minor girls aged 11, 13 and 17 before the court. The bodies of two girls were found in the Hajipur village of Bommalaramaram in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district where the victims and also the culprit lived.
While two schoolgirls were raped and murdered in 2019, another girl was raped and murdered in 2015.
Marri Srinivas Reddy, a lift mechanic, took advantage of the fact that there was no proper bus facility to the village. He had given a lift to the girls and committed the crime. He, however, told the court during the hearings that he was impotent and had not committed the crime.
The police provided DNA evidence to prove his involvement.
It was on April 25, 2019, that a 13-year-old girl went missing in the village. Villagers had found the girl's body in the agricultural well of Marri Srinivas Reddy on the outskirts of the village. The girl's schoolbag was also found near the well. With police taking up the investigation, the body of another girl was also found in the same well. The body of one more victim of Srinivas Reddy was recovered from nearby.
After the arrest of Srinivas Reddy on April 30 on suspicion, the villagers of Hajipur went on the rampage and set ablaze the newly-constructed house of Srinivas Reddy. His parents and brother fled the village.
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