The city police arrested eight persons of a 10-memebr gang for indulging in a dacoity, a murder for gain and seven cases of chain-snatching, here on Monday, and recovered 165 gm of gold ornaments. The police also seized three knives, a screwdriver, an iron rod, an auto-rickshaw, and a motorcycle.
The arrested persons include Polipalli Kalidasu of Anandapuram, Sadhureddy Vinay Kumar of Hanumanthawaka, Saripalli Ramakrishna alias Kittu of Chinagadili mandal, Boorla Pydiraju of Anandapuram, Sankelli Manoj Kumar of Arilova, Kona Krishna of Bheemunipatnam and Yendapalli Trinadh of Bheemunipatnam, and Polavarapu Dharma Raju of Boyapalem. The two persons at large are Kommoju Srinivasa Rao and Bobbili Venu.
According to Commissioner of Police B. Shivadhar Reddy, the dacoity was planned by Polipalli Kalidas. The gang went to the house of one Pasumarthi Sudharani in Anandapuram on April 20 at about 10 p.m. While Kaildas rang the bell from the ground floor, the others attacked Sudharani, her son, and her husband with knives and weapons, when she came to open the door. However, when the trio resisted the attack and raised an alarm, all the accused jumped from the first floor. While others escaped, Vinaykumar got fractured his ankle and was caught by the neighbours and the passers-by.
Mr. Shivadhar Reddy informed the media that the main accused Kalidasu was running an automobile showroom in the ground floor of Sudharani’s house since 2005. As the business ran into heavy losses due to his vices, he quit the business after a couple of years and started a scrap shop. Thereafter, he got acquainted to the other members and formed a gang.
Mr. Shivadhar Reddy said that during the course of questioning, Kalidasu and Yendapalli Trinadh confessed that they also killed Kuppa Thoudamma (65) on the intervening night of January 30-31, while she was asleep with an aim to rob her of gold jewellery. “They also confessed to have indulged in seven snatching cases,” said the CP.
While nine members of the gang were directly involved in all the offences, Polavarapu Dharma Raju was the receiver of the stolen property in one snatching case and was booked under Section 411 of IPC.
Earlier cases“Three to four members of the gang have a track record as rowdy-sheeters and were involved in earlier cases,” said the Commissioner of Police. The gang was arrested by the team led by Anandapuram Police Station Inspector M. Srinivasa Rao and worked under the supervision of ACP (Madhurwada) K. Ranga Raju.
