VIJAYAWADA: Prakasam police have arrested two persons who allegedly killed a Chennai-based old couple and absconded with gold jewellery, silver articles and cash from their house. Bodies of the couple were buried in their farmhouse and the accused fled the city on Saturday. On being alerted by their Chennai counterparts, Prakasam police caught the accused at the toll plaza in Tangutur.
According to police, immediately after receiving information from Chennai Police, Prakasam Superintendent of Police Malika Garg alerted the entire police staff of the district. The police intensified vehicle checks at all toll plazas and check-posts along the Chennai-Kolkata National Highway (NH-16). Finally, the vehicle of the accused was found at Tangutur Toll Plaza.
On seeing the police, the duo tried to escape abandoning the vehicle, but they were caught by a police team led by Ongole DSP U Nagarajju, Singarayakonda CI Lakshman and Tangutur SI Khader Basha. They were shifted to Tangutur police station.“We handed over the accused, valuables and the vehicle to the Chennai police today (Sunday),” the SP said and hailed the police team.
According to police, the couple — Srikanth, 60, and Anuradha, 55 — were living in Brindavan Nagar-Dwaraka colony near Chennai- Mylapore area. Recently, the couple went to the US to meet their daughter Sunanda, who gave birth to a baby. After a few weeks’ stay, they returned to Chennai in the early hours of Saturday. Their car driver Lal Krishna, who has been with them for the last 10 years, received them at the airport. On the way home, the driver picked up his friend, identified as Ravi, who belongs to Darjeeling in West Bengal. Soon after arriving the house, Lal Krishna and his friend reportedly murdered the couple, robbed the house and buried the bodies in the couple’s farm house and fled from the area.
Meanwhile, the couple’s daughter Sunanda alerted her relative Divya, who lives in Chennai, when her parents did not respond to her call. Immediately, Divya along with her husband rushed to the house and found the house locked. Suspecting foul play, she alerted police and Sunanda. The Chennai-Mylapore DSP Gouthaman started an investigation. They started tracking the vehicle using GPS and found that the car was going towards Vijayawada on the NH-16. They contacted the Prakasam SP, which led to the arrest of the accused.