A Tamil Nadu-based painter, who allegedly murdered a sanitary worker following a tiff over sharing a public place as night shelter, was nabbed on the outskirts of Chittoor when he was about to escape into Tamil Nadu, thanks to the CC camera footage, with clear images and movements on the deserted roads due to COVID-19 lockdown.
Mohammad Basha (50) was found murdered with his head crushed with a boulder near Gandhi statue here on April 26.
The police went through CC camera footage in and around the area and zeroed in on a suspect, who kept repeatedly visiting the place and was loitering there during the last one month.
Special teams
After releasing the images of the suspect to all police stations and social media, the police formed four special teams to track him.
On Tuesday morning, when the accused was about to cross into the bordering Vellore district on foot, he was identified by some locals, who informed the police, who and nabbed him.
During interrogation, it was reportedly revealed that the accused, Ratna Swami Babu (48), of Vellore town, used to work as a painter, besides doing odd jobs in Chittoor.
Lockdown
Following imposition of lockdown, he was stranded in Chittoor.
Depending on liberal distribution of free food in the town, Babu used to sleep under the shade of Gandhi statue in the traffic island since March 25.
The victim, Mohammad Basha too used the same place for sleep at night.
The duo kept quarrelling over sharing the space. On April 25 night, Basha allegedly threatened Babu to permanently vacate the place, failing which he would brand him a COVID-19 patient and send him to hospital.
While Basha was asleep, Babu allegedly crushed Basha’s head with a boulder, killing him instantly.
