Three persons involved in the Pedavutapalli triple murder case were arrested by city police near railway parcel office here on Wednesday. The arrested are Bhutam Balaji (son of the prime accused Bhutam Govindu), P. Mahesh and P. Siva, who helped the hired killers in identifying their targets at Gannavaram airport.
Steps were taken for issue of a Red Corner notice against the remaining nine accused by the Interpol for which a request was made through the CBI, said Police Commissioner A.B. Venkateswara Rao.
While producing Bhutam Balaji and the other two accused before media persons, Mr. Rao said that Bhutam Govindu was confirmed by the Bureau of Immigration to have flown to London via Dubai on August 3 after arriving from Singapore at Shamshabad airport. “We are investigating the connection of his foreign travel to the murders”.
Balaji, Mahesh and Siva, after showing the targets -- Gandham Nageswara Rao, Pagidi Maraiah and G. Maraiah -- to the hired killers, fled to Guntur in a car. They kept the vehicle at a service station at Guntur and were frequenting Chennai, Goa and Hyderabad to escape the police dragnet. However, they were nabbed by the police near Vijayawada railway station on Wednesday. In this case, seven persons have already been arrested and nine are still at large. The police commissioner said a love affair and subsequent marriage of Gandham Nageswara Rao’s relative Siva Krishna and Bhutam Govindu’s daughter in 2006 was the main reason for the rivalry between the families. There was also a political twist to the dispute which ultimately led to the gory end of Nageswara Rao and his sons on September 24.
