BENGALURU/ CHITTOOR: For six years, Madhukar Reddy has been playing the cat and mouse game with police in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Finally, it was the humble Aadhaar card that landed him in the net.
A police source in AP said, “Recently, Chittoor police circle inspector Hanumantha Nayak formed a special team to track movements of rowdy sheeters and prisoners who had escaped. Police began investigations based on the addresses of criminals that were registered in police stations. However, they found that many of them had provided incorrect details.
“Police then approached officials at Unique Identification Authority of India for information provided on their Aadhaar cards. Police found that Reddy’s address in the Aadhaar card was in Thambalapalle in Chittoor district. A further search revealed that Madhukar did not live there anymore and had shifted to Madanapalle, around 35km away. We also got to know that he was married at the age of 18 and separated six months later.”
Caught at jewellery store
Police got information about a person lurking around a jewellery shop in Madanapalle. “A person was often seen near a jewellery shop, carefully observing the happenings.”
Police at Madanapalle station said, “Chittoor and Madanapalle police waited for 12 hours near the jewellery shop, disguised as labourers since they knew Madhukar was good at spotting police. He was caught on Saturday while trying to rob the jewellery shop.”
Good at getting away
The police source added, “During interrogation, we asked him how he had managed to escape from police all these years. We learnt that he had stayed in different parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. As we were in touch with a special team of police in Karnataka in connection with Jyothi Uday assault case, we found similarities. He eventually spilled the beans.”
Madhukar confessed to killing five people and attacking a woman, Jyothi Uday, inside an ATM kiosk in Bengaluru. “We will hand him over to Karnataka police in the next few days and they will confirm it once the identification parade is completed,” said the source.