Andhra Pradesh High Court says no capital punishment for ‘killer’ cop

Hyderabad: The AP High Court acquitted a CRPF constable who was awarded death sentence for killing seven people, including his two minor children, by the Srikakulam district sessions court in 2012.

While acquitting the man, a division bench observed that there were several missing links in the prosecution’s case, apart from lapses on the part of material witnesses and the prosecution.

A case had been registered by the Jalumuru police on December 1, 2010 against Metta Shankara Rao, a resident of Mettapeta, a remote village in the district, for killing seven people, including his minor son and daughter, on the complaint of the Nagirikatakam village revenue officer.

According to the prosecution, after the Shankara Rao, who was convicted for killing his wife, was released on bail, he was involved in the brutal murder of three men, two women and his children.
The accused killed his children on November 30, 2010, and kept their heads near a temple in Mukhlingam village. Thereafter, he killed Pyla Venkati, Boddepalli Damayanthi, Voota Parvathi, Pyla Lakshmana and Metta Yerrayya, who testified against him in the murder case of his wife, by slashing them with a knife. Yerrayya died in a hospital in Narasannapeta while undergoing treatment.

According to the prosecution, Shankara Rao also created havoc in the village by hurling bombs.

The counsel appearing for him, however, argued that the accused’s family was completely ruined by certain people who subjected Shankara Rao to trial and conviction in relation to his wife’s death.
The counsel said that Pyla Venkati and Pyla Lakshmana had hatched a plan to offer the accused’s children as sacrifice in a temple to unearth hidden treasures. They involved the principal of their school.

The counsel argued that the very institution of the case against the accused, was somewhat extraordinary, as it was the village revenue officer, who was in a different village at the time, who had filed the complaint.

The High Court observed that the non-submission of complaints or non-recording of signed statements from the kith and kin of the deceased, spoke for the lack of transparency on the part of the prosecution.

Noting that Shankara Rao may be attacked in his native place, the bench directed the Srikakulam police superintendent to put him in Sri Ramakrishna Ashramam in Visakhapatnam, for one year.