Putta Madhu traced to Bhimavaram, held

HYDERABAD: TRS leader and Peddapalli zilla parishad (ZP) chairman Putta Madhu, who has been missing for the past one week from Manthani town, was taken into custody by Ramagundam police in Bhimavaram town in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on Saturday.
It was speculated that Madhu might have gone underground fearing a police crackdown on him in advocate-couple Gattu Vaman Rao and PV Nagamani’s murder case.
As per an official statement issued by Ramagundam police, Task Force cops took Madhu into custody to verify his exact whereabouts and also to question him about issues raised by G Kishan Rao, father of Vaman Rao, in the murder conspiracy.
Police said that a week ago Madhu asked his gunmen to stay back in Manthani and went underground. Since then, his cellphone had remained switched off and his whereabouts have been not known. Police sources said that a few days ago they started tracking the whereabouts of Madhu to Maharashtra’s Chandrapur area and subsequently to Bhimavaram where they picked him up on Saturday.
“Madhu is being questioned about certain points raised by Kishan Rao in a recent letter he wrote to Ramagundam CP V Satyanarayana and inspector general Y Nagi Reddy pertaining to the double murder. We are also asking him why he had gone underground suddenly and change cellphones and cars frequently. We asked about allegations like transfer of Rs 2 crore from bank accounts and purchase of a car. He is asking us to investigate and find out the truth,” said an investigator.
In the past, police have questioned Madhu in connection with the February 17 murder of Vaman Rao and Nagamani. So far, police have arrested seven persons — Madhu’s nephew Bittu Seenu, Kunta Srinivas, S Chiranjeevi, A Kumar, P Lachanna, K Anil Kumar and V Vasantha Rao — in the murder case.
Police are yet to file a chargesheet in the case. On April 26, Satyanarayana wrote to the law secretary requesting to ask the high court for constitution of a fast-track court to try the advocate couple murder case and the same has been sent to the high court.