Hyderabad: The Nalgonda fast track court is scheduled to give its ruling on Monday in the three cases of rape and murder of minor girls at Hajipur in Yadadri Bhongir district. The accused, Marri Srinivas Reddy, has been charged with kidnap, rape and murder.
The prosecution had produced 101 witnesses, and 164 exhibits against Srinivas Reddy, 28, during the hearing. Considering the three cases as the rarest of rare, the prosecution had earlier sought the death penalty to Srinivas Reddy who is currently lodged at the Nalgonda district jail.
In two cases, Srinivas was charged with kidnap, rape, and murder of minor girls, while in the third he was charged with kidnap, attempted sexual assault and murder of an 11-year-old girl. Srinivas Reddy was arrested last year by the Rachakonda police following investigation into a Class IX girl student from Bommalara-maram village going missing. The investigations led to two other murders.
Srinivas was arrested on April 30 last year, four days after the Class IX student went missing. The girl’s decomposed body was unearthed from a well belonging to Srinivas Reddy, at Hajipur under Bommalaramaram police station limits.
On questioning him, Srinivas confessed to kidnapping, raping and murdering a 17-year-old girl who was returning home from college in March 2019. Then he also confessed of kidnap, attempt to sexual assault and murder of an 11-year-old girl in April 2015. His confessions reportedly led the police to recover the bodies of the two other minor girls, which were buried in his well.
After investigation of the three cases, separate charge-sheets were filed before the Nalgonda fast track court in August 2019. During the trial, Srinivas claimed that he was impotent and could not drive a bike — the prosecution had alleged that he had kidnapped the girls on the pretext of giving them a lift till the main road.
The prosecution had produced the reports from the government doctors that they did not find anything to suggest that Srinivas was impotent. Witnessed were also produced before that the court against his claims over bike riding. The court examined the witnesses and the exhibits and after hearing the arguments of the prosecution and the defence counsel, it posted the judgment to January 27.
Mr K. Chandra Shekar, special public prosecutor for the Hajipur cases, said, “In one case, about 72 exhibits were produced, in the other two cases 48 and 44 exhibits were produced before the court.”
