Inspired by crime shows, man murders woman
VIJAYAWADA: CITY police solved the Yedupati Padmavathi murder case with the arrest of the accused on Tuesday. The woman was found brutally murdered at her residence in Bhavanipuram on January 31 noon.
The accused, Gavirineni Anil Kumar, is a resident of Chodavaram in Penamaluru mandal. The arrest came after he reportedly confessed that he killed the woman when she refused to part with her gold ornaments. Further, the police recovered the murder weapon, `1.2 lakh in cash, 86 gm gold ornaments and a motorcycle from his possession.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Commissioner of Police (CP) Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao said Anil Kumar used to work as an office assistant in a convention hall, before leaving the job in 2017. Later, he relocated to Kadapa and started a cement and bricks business with his friend. As the business went into loss, he left Kadapa and returned to his native place. “Inspired by the crime stories telecast in news channels, he decided to target lone women as his victims,” the CP added.
The CP informed the media that the accused committed a similar crime in July last year in Vidyadharapuram, where he threatened a woman at knife point and decamped with around 100 gm gold. Later, he pledged the gold at Indian Overseas Bank branch near Andhra Loyola College.
Explaining how the incident took place, Tirumala Rao said Anil Kumar borrowed a motorcycle from his friend and recced Bhavanipuram where the victim lived.
“Around 4 pm, Anil barged into Padmavathi’s house and saw her sleeping in the hall. He, then, woke her up and demanded that she give up the gold ornaments she was wearing. Afraid, Padmavathi resisted Anil but he stabbed her multiple times on her stomach. As Padmavati screamed for help, he slit her throat.”
“With the technique he learnt from TV crime shows on how to escape from the crime scene without leaving clues, he threw chilli powder on Padmavati and other places in the house to divert the attention of sniffer dogs. He, then, left for Eluru and visited Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple in Dwaraka Tirumala and tonsured his hair so as to not get identified by the police. With the help of CCTV footage, we identified the motorcycle used, which helped us in tracing the accused,” the CP said.
After coming to Vijayawada on January 2, Anil pledged gold ornaments in Manappuram Finance Limited near Patamata and took `2.5 lakh as loan. “When he was on his way to his mother-in-law’s house in Rayanapadu, we took him into our custody,” the CP added.
The top cop also announced a cash reward of `1 lakh to the officers who took part in the investigation.