The district police have cracked the murder case of rowdy-sheeter R. Kannababu (43) in less than 24 hours, in Anakapalli on Friday and arrested three persons who were found to be the victim’s close friends. The police confirmed that dispute over ₹1 lakh debt had led to the murder.
The arrested were identified as Ch. Lakshmana Rao alias Latcha (29), P. Durga Rao (29) and L. Suresh (37), all from Anakapalli.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Superintendent of Police K.V. Murali Krishna said that Kannababu had been living in Gandhi Nagar in Anakapalli along with his family since 2019. He was earlier involved in cases of murder, murder attempt, dacoity and kidnap in Visakhapatnam city. After coming to Anakapalli, he had developed friendship with Lakshmana Rao, Durga Rao and Suresh.
In the investigation, the police found that Kannababu was involved in a land settlement belonging to a woman from Chodavaram. On June 21, Kannababu along with his three friends had gone to Chodavaram over the same issue and started to return. They stopped near Uderu Junction and had consumed liquor. Kannababu and Lakshmana Rao reportedly had an altercation over ₹1 lakh which the rowdy-sheeter had borrowed from the latter. During the dispute, Lakshmana Rao had reportedly beaten Kannababu with a stick, while Durga Rao attacked him with a knife, which led to his death, the SP said.
A team led by DSP of Anakapalli sub-division P. Satyanarayana Rao and Anakapalli (Rural) Police Station Inspector A. Ravi Kumar arrested the accused.
