Serial killer arrested in Visakhapatnam

Accused used to target women in under-construction buildings in isolated areas, say police

Police Commissioner Ch. Srikanth addressing a press conference after the arrest of a serial killer, in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: V. RAJU

The Pendurthi police on Tuesday arrested a person who was allegedly involved in killing three persons, including two women, and assaulting another woman and two persons.

The arrested was identified as Chandaka Ram Babu (49) alias Sandaka Ram Babu, a native of Dharma Sagaram Village in Kotavuratla mandal, Ankapalli district.

Addressing the media here on Tuesday, Police Commissioner Ch. Srikanth said that the first crime the accused allegedly committed was on July 7th night, when he assaulted a woman named Thota Nallamma (50) and her son Vallayya (19), when they were sleeping outside an under-construction apartment in Brundavan Gardens, Pendurthi. The mother and son duo survived the attack.

Then on August 6, he allegedly battered to death Suthari Apparao (72) and his wife Suthari Lakshmi (62), in Sapthagiri Nagar, Pendurthi, in this case also the deceased were working as watchmen in an under-construction building.

On August 14, he allegedly killed Appikonda Lakshmi at Sujatha Nagar, Pendurthi, where the deceased was working in an under-construction building.

All the murders were committed in Pendurthi area and he had reportedly confessed that he was choosing to kill women working in under-construction buildings in isolated areas.

The parents of the accused had died long back and he has no siblings. He was married to a woman, when he was about 18 years of age and was then working as mason and auto-rickshaw driver in Rajahmundry.

In 2006, he had moved with his family to Hyderabad and was working as a real estate agent. In 2013, he alone moved to Visakhapatnam to work as a real estate agent for a private company and in 2016, when he visited his home in Hyderabad, he had found his wife reportedly in a compromising position with another man, and this apparently sowed the seed of hatred towards women and he started to behave differently and he had also divorced his wife. He has a son of 27 years and a daughter of 26 years who have distanced themselves from the accused, said Mr. Srikanth.

The accused has reportedly confessed that he had started hating women and to satiate the hate he had committed the crimes.

Moreover, he also has reportedly confessed that the real estate firms where he had worked earlier had cheated him of his due commission and that was another reason why he had grudge on the real estate firms, he chose to commit the crimes at under-construction buildings, so that the real estate firms would not get buyers and would suffer losses.

The police have recovered a blood-stained iron rod from his possession, which he had allegedly used to batter his victims to death.

It took the police about a week to scan lengths of footages from 26 CCTV cameras and from the brief description that they could gather, the police team arrested him when he was hiding in the bushes, close to the crime scene, after committing the murder of Appikonda Lakshmi.

The police are also checking his antecedents and matching his modus operandi with other similar murders, to ascertain whether he had committed a few more crimes in the past.

He is now in police custody.

Congratulating the Pendurthi police station team, Mr. Srikanth said that had he not been arrested, he would have been emboldened and would have committed a few more such crimes.

The accused was also reportedly practising some rituals at his earlier home. Thereafter, the owners and the colony people reportedly threw him out. Since then he was roaming on the roads like a vagabond and feeding on leftover food, said the CP.