Octogenarian Ram Prasad’s murder at Chikkadpally two years ago, the illegal occupation of his house by the killers and their attempts to cover up the crime can easily pass off for a Bollywood script.
It is a rare case of a history-sheeter, a lawyer, a doctor, some policemen, a Sub-Registrar and a forensic doctor being allegedly involved in different stages of a crime.
While the history-sheeter, two of his aides, the Sub-Registrar and a Home Guard were arrested “for their complicity” in the killing, investigators recently stumbled upon leads that made the homicide even more complex.
A police statement based on the confession of the arrested HG said history-sheeter Sandeep Chaudhary took possession of the victim’s house by “bribing Chikkadpally police officials”. Curiously, these policemen have not been identified so far.
The HG’s statement indicated that Chaudhary appro-ached an Assistant Commissioner of Police seeking help to occupy the victim’s house, which has a market value of over Rs. 2 crore.
The conspiracy began when the main accused set his eyes on the senior citizen’s house as the latter had no legal heirs, investigators feel.
The history-sheeter befriended the old man by frequenting his house. When the octogenarian turned down his proposal to buy the house, Sandeep obtained the documents of the house in his name by bribing the Sub-Registrar.
Suspecting that the accused might resort to illegal means, Ram Prasad got the house registered in the name of a close relative, Indra Karan, through a will deed.
“As per records, Chaudhary secured the documents first. Later, the property owner himself registered the house in his relative’s name,” say investigators.
According to them, the ACP told Chaudhary to file a private complaint accusing Indra Karan of illegally occupying the house despite possessing registered documents.
Having registered a case based on this complaint, the accused, along with a group of labourers and three musclemen, went to the house and got the building razed to the ground.
Two constables from Chikkadpally police station accompanied Chaudhary. Though Indra Karan went to the spot and protested, police sent him away saying that it was a civil dispute and that he could not create trouble there.
A helpless Indra Karan filed a complaint with the police station; but no action was taken. Meanwhile, Chaudhary got the house demolished and began looking out for buyers for the open plot.
The Hyderabad Central Crime Station sleuths deduced that Ram Prasad’s was not a natural death as opined by the forensic doctor but a cold-blooded murder for gain by Chaudhary and his gang. They maintain that the job of connecting the gang to the killing was complete.
But to substantiate their findings that the accused had bribed the Chikkadpally police officials to occupy the victim’s property, would be a challenging task.
