VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday upheld the life imprisonment of Morla Srinivasa Rao and Yampareddy Jagadish in the 2010 kidnap and murder case of five-year-old Palagani Naga Vaishnavi.
The court dismissed the appeals filed by the convicts challenging the Vijayawada Women’s Sessions Court verdict. However, the third accused, Pandi Venkatarao, was acquitted after the court found insufficient evidence to sustain his conviction. Vaishnavi, daughter of Vijayawada businessman Palagani Prabhakar Goud, was abducted and murdered by her relatives over a property dispute.
The accused allegedly disposed of the child’s body in an iron melting furnace to destroy evidence. The gruesome crime had shocked the state, sparking widespread outrage. In the aftermath, Vaishnavi’s father reportedly died of a heart attack, and her mother passed away during the course of the investigation.
With Monday’s ruling, High Court reaffirmed life terms for the two main convicts, bringing partial closure to one of Vijayawada’s most tragic cases.