Mumbai supari gangs are suspected to be involved in a broad daylight shootout in which two persons were killed and another person was critically injured in Peddavutapalli of Krishna district on Wednesday.
The victims — Gandham Nageswara Rao (55) and Gandham Pagidi Maraiah (36) belonging to Chinnakadimi village in Pedavegi mandal of West Godavari district — were shot dead by unidentified persons on NH-5 at around 10.30 a.m. Another person, Pagidi Maraiah, who suffered bullet injuries, was rushed to a hospital in Vijayawada where his condition is stated to be critical. Their driver managed to escape.
Vijayawada City Police Commissioner A.B. Venkateswara Rao, who visited the scene of offence, said a family rivalry was suspected to be the cause of firing.
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According to police, the assailants stopped the car in which Nageswara Rao and the other two were travelling and resorted to firing. The victims were on their way from Gannavaram to Eluru in connection with a court case.
The deceased were accused in the murder case of a history-sheeter Durga Rao who was killed in Eluru on March 9, 2014. They subsequently went to Mumbai after securing a bail and were proceeding to Eluru after landing at Gannavaram airport on Wednesday morning.
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The killers opened fire with pistols from point-blank range killing Nageswara Rao and his son Gandham Pagidi Maraiah on the spot and grievously injuring the third person.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) Tafseer Iqbal, eight bullets were seized from a pool of blood near the car which belonged to a travel operator in Eluru.
However, there was no immediate clue of the number of weapons used and bullets fired. “A high alert has been sounded at all check-posts in the two districts — Krishna and West Godavari — to trace the killers who were suspected to be hired to eliminate the trio”, he said.
Traffic on the busy NH came to a grinding halt for about one-and-a-half hour as the scene of offence was cordoned off by the cops.