The Prakasam police claimed to have achieved a breakthrough in a tough-to-crack murder case with the arrest of four suspected assailants near Vellaturu village of Bollapalli Mandal in neighbouring Guntur district late on Tuesday.
Police were clueless soon after registering a case on November 17, based on a report from the Village Revenue Officer of Gangavaram village, near Pullalcheru, as the assailants after allegedly committing the murder of a 32-year-old man on November 16, had reportedly consigned the body to flames after dousing it with petrol and dissolved the ashes in Nagarjunasagar project canal to wipe out the evidence, Yerrogondapalem Circle Inspector P. Deva Prabakar said on Wednesday.
Superintendent of Police Siddharth Kaushal formed three teams under the Markapur Deputy Superintendent of Police M. Kishore Kumar. A thorough probe into the case and vital clues picked up from the crime spot by technology assistants paved the way for a breakthrough.
Police zeroed in on 36-year-old Brahma Reddy, brother-in-law of the victim K. Subba Reddy, with whom the former reportedly had differences over financial matters. Intense interrogation of the accused persons and a friend of the deceased helped the police unravel the modus operandi and motive behind the murder of Subba Reddy when the latter was consuming liquor along with the friend. The other accused persons arrested were identified as S. Baskar Reddy (36), D. Venkateswar Reddy (24) and V. Lakshmareddy (25). Police recovered four mobile phones of the accused persons, motorcycle used by the deceased as also a gold ring of the latter.