Vijayawada: Guntur police arrested on Friday a three-member gang of women serial killers. The killers include a mother-daughter duo and a former ward volunteer. The women killed four people by mixing cyanide into alcohol and soft drinks. They killed to avoid repaying debts to the victims and take away their gold and other ornaments.
Disclosing details to media, Guntur Superintendent of Police (SP) S. Satish Kumar identified the accused as Gontu Ramanamma and Mudiyala Venkateswari, mother and daughter respectively, and Murugappa Rajini. All three are residents of Yadla Lingaiah Colony in Tenali.
The three women befriended their neighbours, visited their homes, and offered them soft drinks laced with cyanide. They then stole their gold, money and other valuables.
About two months ago, police received information about a woman's decomposing body, aged around 35 to 40 years, near a quarry on the outskirts of Vadlamudi village in Chebrolu mandal. Based on a report presented by the village revenue officer concerned, sub-inspector P. Mahesh of Chebrolu registered a case of an unknown death.
Two special police teams, supervised by Tenali DSP B. Janardhana Rao, Ponnuru Rural CI Y. Koteswar Rao, and Chebrolu SI D. Venkata Krishna, were formed to investigate the case.
During their investigation, police identified the deceased as Shaik Nagoor Bee of Yadla Lingaiah Colony in Tenali. The deceased's son Shaik Tameej expressed suspicions about his mother's death. He informed police that before she left the house, she had spoken with Rajini and Venkateswari, alias Bujji.
Using technical analysis, police traced an auto driver named Mahesh. Upon questioning, he revealed that on June 5, a female passenger hired his auto at a bridge in Somasundarapalem of Tenali town. Shortly, two women joined her. One boarded the auto while the other followed on a scooter. They instructed the auto driver to take them to Vadlamudi Junction and offered him ₹500 as fare. On the way, one of the women gave him ₹500 to buy wine which he handed over to them.
Mahesh further stated that he dropped the women near the quarries on the outskirts of Vadlamudi. They paid his fare through PhonePe. He identified one of the women as Rajini. Call data records (CDRs) and dump analysis confirmed that the auto driver, the deceased, and the two suspects had been present at the scene of the crime on June 5.
During interrogation, the accused admitted that with the intent of stealing money and gold, they lured the victim, and killed her by providing wine mixed with cyanide. After her death, they stole her gold.
Upon further questioning, the women confessed to similarly killing three other women. They attempted to murder two more in a similar manner.
Investigations further revealed that Venkateswari alias Bujji worked as a volunteer for four years. Later, in an attempt to earn more money, she went to Cambodia and became involved in cybercrimes, honey trapping individuals from the Telugu states.However, due to health issues, Venkateswari returned to India before taking up the cyanide killings.
