CHITTOOR: A 62-year-old tomato farmer was found murdered on the outskirts of Bodumalladinne in Madanapalle Mandal, Annamayya district. The deceased was identified as Narem Rajasekhar Reddy.
According to police, the incident took place on Tuesday night. Rajasekhar, who lived in an agriculture field away from Bodumalladinne village, was heading towards the village to deliver milk.
Unidentified people intercepted him, tied his arms and legs to a tree before strangulating him with a towel. Police suspect that the miscreants might have killed Rajasekhar in an attempt to rob him. Passersby found the dead body on the outskirts of the village and alerted local police on Wednesday.
During a police inquiry, Rajasekhar’s wife, Jyothi said some unidentified men had visited their farm on Tuesday under the pretext of purchasing tomatoes. They left after being informed that the farmer had gone to the village to sell milk.
Recently, Rajasekhar reportedly sold more than 70 crates of tomatoes at the Madnapalle market, raking in nearly Rs 30 lakh.
Police suspect a possible connection between the murder and the significant financial gain. The farmer is survived by wife and two married daughters, both residing in Bengaluru. Madnapalle SP R Gangadhar Rao visited the crime scene and spoke to the kin of the deceased.
“Four teams have been formed to crack the case. As part of the investigation, we have deployed a sniffer dog. All angles in the case will be investigated,’’ said DSP K Kesappa.