PEDDAPALLI: In a surprising twist, the officials investigating the murder of the High Court lawyer couple in Peddapalli arrested a person named Veldi Vasantha Rao, who was initially named as one of the accused persons in the FIR, on Friday.
Though he was removed of charges soon after, the officials once again included his name in the probe report, arrested him, and produced Vasantha Rao before a court in Manthani. The court has remanded him to judicial custody. Vasantha Rao belongs to Gunjapadugu village, native place of Vaman Rao.
He had previously worked for the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) and retired as Deputy Executive Engineer in the Irrigation Department in 2018. According to sources, the slain lawyer had a flaming row with Vasantha Rao over some issues in the Brahmin Community Association.
In light of this, Vasantha Rao colluded with Kunta Srinivas and the other accused persons and hatched a plan to kill the lawyer couple. According to official sources, the investigation officers picked up Vasantha Rao after learning that he encouraged and motivated the accused persons to eliminate Vaman Rao and Nagamani.
In the meantime, Bittu Seenu, nephew of former TRS MLA and Peddapalli ZP Chairman Putta Madhu, and Udari Lakshman alias Latchaiah were produced before the Manthani court on Friday. The court their statements under Section 164 of CrPC.
They are currently in judicial custody.Meanwhile, there are rumours that Seenu met and spoke with a few of his close aides, near the Manthani court when he was brought for recording statement.