Woman Hires Contract Killers to Murder Husband

Kakinada:Agiripalli police have busted a murder case at Vadlamanu village of Eluru district by arresting five persons, including the murdered person Solomon Raju’s wife Reddy Durga Mani. Others arrested are Kalthoti Sai Srinivas, Maddali Jaswant Roy, Kalthoti Manikanta, and Palagani Venkanna Babu.

Eluru superintendent of police K. Pratap Siva Kishore said Durga Mani had been having an extra-marital affair with Venkanna Babu. When her husband Solomon Raju came to know about it, he asked her to end her affair.

Following this, Durga Mani decided to eliminate her husband. Along with Venkanna Babu, she hatched a conspiracy and gave Naga Kishore, Jaswant Roy and Manikanta the contract for murdering Solomon Raju.

Following his murder, police took up investigations. This revealed that attempts had been made to portray Solomon Raju’s demise as an accidental incident. Following their investigations, police arrested all the accused, including Durga Mani and her paramour.

Police seized a car, five mobile phones, empty bags, and cash worth ₹75,000 from the accused, who have been produced before a court, which has remand them to custody.

Nuzvid Rural circle inspector K. Ramakrishna and Agiripalli sub-inspector K. Siva Kumar have carried out the investigations under the supervision of Nuzvid DSP K.V.V.N. Prasad.

TD MLA expresses displeasure over RTC crew for not stopping bus at Kankipadu centre

Vijayawada:Penamaluru MLA Bode Prasad on Thursday expressed displeasure over RTC bus crew for allegedly not stopping the bus at Kankipadu Centre in Krishna district, despite passengers waiting to board.

According to the report, the MLA was travelling from Kankipadu towards Penamaluru when he noticed that an RTC bus did not stop at the centre. He followed the bus and halted it on the national highway, questioning the driver and conductor over the incident.

He reportedly observed that since the introduction of the free bus facility for women, the attitude of some RTC staff was not appropriate and advised them not to bring a bad name to the government. He instructed them to ensure buses stop at designated points where passengers are waiting.

The MLA travelled in the bus up to Gosala and also interacted with women passengers, advising them to make use of the free bus scheme.

Two chain snatchers, bike theft offender arrested

Kakinada:Kakinada police arrested two interstate offenders involved in chain snatching and a bike theft accused on Thursday and recovered gold and silver ornaments along with three motorcycles, collectively valued at `51 lakh.

District superintendent of police G. Bindu Madhav told reporters that the arrested chain snatchers have been identified as Palla Surendra Kumar and Angala Srinivasa Reddy, both from Kakinada, along with a bike theft accused, R. Naga Satish Kumar.

He said the arrest of Surendra Kumar and Srinivasa Reddy has led to the detection of seven chain snatching cases and three bike theft cases.

According to the SP, Surendra Kumar is accused in 65 cases, mainly involving thefts at ATMs, where he allegedly targeted bank customers after gaining their confidence and stole cash from them.

Angala Srinivasa Reddy is accused in 14 cases and has a suspect sheet at the II Town police station in Kakinada.

The SP said that a few weeks ago, an elderly woman approached Srinivasa Reddy regarding a chain snatching incident. He had assured her that the accused would be caught, and police have now arrested those involved, he added.

Innovative AP governance models shine at Collectors’ Conference

Vijayawada: The seventh Collectors’ Conference at the Secretariat in Amaravati on Thursday showcased several district-level governance initiatives, including from Srikakulam, West Godavari, Palnadu and Tirupati. The collectors presented models focused on welfare delivery, healthcare, industrial innovation, and land dispute resolution. Srikakulam collector Swapnil Dinakar Pundkar presented the “Swabhiman” programme, designed to address grievances of persons with disabilities, transgender persons, and senior citizens. The programme, launched on August 16, 2024, has been held 19 times so far and resolved 654 grievances. Pundkar said Swabhiman covers welfare schemes, employment, education, social security, SADAREM certification, and assistive devices such as battery-operated vehicles. Six job melas conducted under the programme helped 153 out of 213 participants secure employment. West Godavari collector C. Nagarani presented the “Circular Economy Blueprint.” which focuses on converting agricultural and aqua waste into industrial inputs. Rice husk is being used for power generation and silica gel production, while ethanol and rice bran oil are being produced from agricultural by-products. Nagarani said fish and shrimp waste processing could increase aqua exports from ₹10 crore to ₹50 crore. She disclosed that West Godavari district plans to establish 40,000 biogas plants using cattle dung for cooking gas and organic fertiliser. Palnadu collector Kritika Shukla presented the “Swarna Grama Arogya Darshini” model, which integrates eight departments to deliver healthcare services at the village level.

The programme has reduced child stunting from 18 per cent to 8 per cent and underweight cases from 7 per cent to 4 per cent. Over 1.58 lakh people have been screened for blood pressure, while HPV vaccination coverage among girls has reached 82 per cent. Further, no maternal deaths have been reported since January 2026. Tirupati collector Dr S. Venkateswar presented the “Shettipalli Model Township,” built after resolving long-pending land disputes through land pooling. As part of the project, 2,111 plots have been allotted to 823 beneficiaries through an electronic lottery system. Infrastructure works worth ₹250 crore are underway at the township. Dr Venkateswar said the project has generated assets valued at around ₹1,100 crore for beneficiaries. He disclosed that the model township is being considered for replication in other regions.