The Guntu Urban Police have nabbed two of the accused, charged with molesting a 21-year- old woman from Vijayawada, at the Seethanagaram ghat on June 19 night.
Superintendent of Police, Guntur Urban, K. Arif Hafeez produced the accused, Seru Krishna Kishore, 28, and Sk. Habib, 29, residents of Tadepalli, while the hunt is on to nab Prasanna Reddy.
Investigations by the police revealed that an hour before the accused molested the woman, they allegedly committed a murder. They were reportedly stealing copper wire on the railway track, when they came across a man who got down from a train. Suspecting that he might reveal their crime, they allegedly strangulated him using the copper wire and dumped the body from the bridge. Then, they got down from the bridge, reportedly consumed liquor, and came across a couple sitting together on the dry river bed.
Flashing blades, they threatened the man, grabbed their mobile phones and allegedly took turns to molest the woman. Then they took a boat and fled towards Vijayawada.
The next day, they returned to Tadepalli and sensing that the police were on the look out, they gave the mobile phones to their friend, Habib alias Hanni Gundu, and fled to Ongole. Krishna fled to Hubli, and later to Bhaimsa and landed at Secunderabad railway station. He used to live on money collected from selling used bottles.
The investigation began on a wild goose chase, but the police used every trick available in the book, to nail the culprits
Mr. Hafeez formed special teams and the hunt to nab the accused was not easy as they discarded their mobile phones, travelled in goods trains and lived a life of vagabonds and frequently changed locations. Some of the policemen even disguised themselves as daily workers, sporting lungis and T-shirts to track the movements of the accused.
Finally, they were able to pin down Krishna at Secunderabad and brought him to Tadepalli. The accused then reportedly confessed to the murder and molestation of a woman.
The SP congratulated DSP, North Sub Division, D. Durga Prasad, CI, P. Seshagiri Rao, Tadepalli CI M. Subramaniyam and Tadepalli Crime SI D. Vinod Kumar and other police personnel for a strenuous effort to nab the accused.