Visakhapatnam: A ward volunteer smothered a 72-year-old woman to death with a pillow at her residence (apartment) at Sujathanagar under Pendurthi police station limits in Vizag city on Sunday night and decamped with gold and cash. The victim was identified as Kotagiri Varalakshmi and the accused is Rayavarapu Venkatesh, 26, a ward volunteer at 95th Ward (Purushothapuram) of GVMC in Vizag city.
Varalakshmi’s son Kotagiri Srinivas has been running a fast-food stall at Purushothapuram for the past few months. Srinivas and his mother stayed in the apartment. Volunteer Venkatesh joined as a part-time assistant at the fast-food centre a few weeks ago.
Venkatesh often visited Srinivas and he met the victim in her residence a few days ago. As usual, Venkatesh attended the duties at the fast-food centre on Sunday evening.
Around 10 pm, Venkatesh went to Srinivas’s home and returned to the fast-food centre at 11 pm.
When Srinivas went to his home at midnight after shutting down the fast-food stall, he was shocked to see his mother found dead sprawling on the bed. Some gold jewellery and cash went missing from the home.
Based on the complaint from Srinivas, the Pendurthi police along with the clues team visited the crime scene and examined the CCTV footage at the apartment. The CCTV footage showed the volunteer entering the house of Srinivas.
The police quickly nabbed Venkatesh and shifted the body to KGH for autopsy.
