TIRUPATI: The Chandragiri police on Friday arrested four accused in the murder of a software engineer near here around midnight on April 1. He had been torched in his own vehicle and the accused also made attempts to make it appear as an accident, police said.
Disclosing the case details to media on Friday, ASP Venkata Rao said the victim S Nagaraju (35), a native of Brahmanapalli in Vedurukuppam mandal, was killed and set ablaze in his car by the accused.
The victim was working as a software engineer in Bengaluru and was trying to discuss and end a feud arising out of an extramarital affair involving his younger brother Purushottam and the wife of one of the accused, police confirmed.
Purushotham's affair with the wife of the prime accused, B Rippunjaya, at their native place Brahmanapalli had led to frequent altercations between the two families. “When Nagaraju learned about Rippunjaya’s plans to eliminate Purushottam, he sent his brother away to Bengaluru to remain safe. In the meantime, he continued his efforts to resolve the dispute.”
However, after Nagaraju recorded one of their mobile phone conversations and shamed Rippunjaya among the locals, the latter and his brother Chanakya Prathap plotted to kill Nagaraju, the police said.
“To execute the murder plan, the brothers took the support of three persons, P Gopinath Reddy, A Ramesh and A Kumar. They invited Nagaraju for another round of negotiations at Chandragiri, then took him to an isolated location and made Nagaraju consume alcohol.”
“After Nagaraju was heavily drunk, the accused choked him to death. Then, they placed the victim in his car, poured petrol which they brought along with them and set the car on fire in a bid to project it as an accident,” the ASP said.
The special teams appointed by the ASP arrested Rippunjaya, Gopinath, Ramesh and Kumar. “During the interrogation, the accused confessed to their crime. We are on the lookout for another of the gang, Chanakya Prathap, who is absconding,” ASP Venkata Rao said.
