A year has passed since psychopathic killer, Rachakonda Sambasiva Rao (35), alias Psycho Samba, gave the slip to Mangalagiri police of Guntur district in the dense Kondapalli forest, but the police are still clueless about his whereabouts.
Psycho Samba, who allegedly committed nearly 100 crimes including murder and molestation of several women, escaped from the police custody on July 12, 2012 when he was taken to the Kondapalli forest area to identify the place where he had hidden some stolen jewellery. He was taken into police custody the day before his sensational escape.
The Guntur urban police, under the supervision of the then SP Ake Ravi Krishna conducted a combing operation in the Kondapalli reserve forest spread over 30,000 acres for five days, enlisting the support of the Vijayawada and Krishna district police. However, their efforts did not fructify.
Later, the Mangalagiri police lodged a complaint with the Ibrahimpatnam police station and the Guntur Urban police formed special teams to nab the notorious criminal.
The then home minister, Sabita Indra Reddy too announced that the police would soon arrest Samba as special teams had been formed to nab him.
According to police sources, Samba who is a school drop-out from the Prattipadu town in Guntur district, is mentally disturbed but not insane. He was a hyperactive child and had made several attempts to sexually harass his teachers, neighbourhood girls and his own cousins when he was young. He had reportedly committed several crimes across 10 districts, including murder of women, over a period of one year.
Speaking to Express, Guntur Urban SP BV Ramana Kumar said that he had studied the file of the dreaded criminal and was going to form special teams to nab him soon. The SP, however, said that Sambasiva Rao had left Guntur district and there were no reports of incidents involving him in the district since the time he escaped successfully.
Ibrahimpatnam CI, P Kanaka Rao said that the local police too had no information on the movement of the psycho killer.