VIJAYAWADA: The Sessions Judge of Mahila Court awarded life imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 1,300 to five accused in a series of murder cases in Vijayawada on Tuesday. According to the police, all five accused were allegedly involved in murder cases of six senior citizens and had them in 2020, during the Covid pandemic in the Penamaluru and Kanchikacharla police stations limits.
The five accused were identified as Velpuri Prabhu Kumar (22), Sunkara Gopi Raju (22), Ponamala Chakravarthy (21), Maddi Phaneendra Kumar (20) and Moram Naga Durga Rao (21). Women Sessions Judge I Shailaja Devi gave a verdict after the accused were found guilty of targeting lonely elderly people by breaking into their homes, stealing gold and murdering them.
The prosecution was conducted by Additional Public Prosecutor P Chandragiri Vishnu Vardhan argued from the investigation side. Penamaluru police had arrested the five accused on June 24, 2021, who are under 22 years of age in an ATM theft case at Poranki Centre and the accused confessed to the five murder cases in five different incidents.
Meanwhile, the task force ADCP Kolli Srinivas Rao (investigation officer) and former Penamaluru inspector M Satyanarayana received the appreciation and Union Home minister’s medal for excellence in the investigation in 2022 and for arresting the five accused in series of murder cases.