Hyderabad: Nine days after Vijayawada-based steel unit owner T. Ramprasad was stabbed to death in public in Punjagutta, police announced the arrest of his ex-business partner and other accused on Monday.
Business rivalry was stated to be the reason for the murder.
A.R. Srinivas, joint commissioner, West Zone, said the main accused was Koganti Satyanarayana alias Satyam. The murder was allegedly carried out by his associate Tekyem Shyam Sunder and three others identified as Pulivarthi Bala Naga Anjaneya Prasad, Ramu and Pritham.
Mr Srinivas said Ramprasad, his brother-in-law Vura Srinivas Rao and Satyanarayana were partners in a steel factory from 2003. They ran into losses in 2013.
Suspecting that Ramprasad was at fault, Satyanarayana demanded that he pay `70 crore.
The amount was brought down to `23 crore, to be paid by Ramprasad and his brother-in-law.
The DCP said Ramprasad was supposedly avoiding the accused and filed cases against Satyanarayana and Shyam Sunder because of which they were arrested by the Vijayawada police in 2012 and 2013 with the help of influential politicians.
In 2015, Ramprasad shifted base to Hyderabad and started a steel factory in Parigi.
Satyanarayana and Shyam Sunder began looking for hired killers kill Ramprasad, Mr Srinivas said.
After tracking the movements of Ramprasad, Shyam Sunder lay in wait with the alleged killers Anjaneya Prasad, Ramu and Pritham at a park in the lane opposite Durganagar Colony.
Shyam Sunder brought a cricket kit containing swords in a two-wheeler, parked it opposite a temple and walked away.
Mr Srinivas said when Ramprasad left the temple, the trio took out swords from the cricket kit and rushed to attack him.
Ramprasad tried to escape but got stuck between his car and the fencing.
The trio attacked him and escaped.
Passersby rushed him to a nearby hospital where he succumbed to injuries the following day. His wife T. Vaidehi filed a complaint with the Panjagutta police.
