Realtor's Death Accidental, say Cops, Three Arrested

VIZIANAGARAM:After four days of suspense, the police Friday cracked the case of mysterious death of realtor Kolli Venkata Rama Prasad and arrested three people including an additional superintendent of police.

The arrested were identified as Srikakulam ASP (Vigilance and Enforcement) Rudraraju Siva Ramakrishna Raju (A1), Walkers’ Club secretary Gudipati Sheshagiri Rao alias Giri (A2) and Nallavarapu Krishna Murthy Raju alias Bank Raju alias Bada Babu. Two other accused in the case, identified as granite businessman Kalva Vijaya Bhaskar and car driver Ambati Appanna alias Ravi, are yet to be arrested.

Superintendent of police G Navadeep Singh said that Rama Prasad, ASP Siva Ramakrishna Raju, Kalva Vijaya Bhaskar Rao and Krishna Murthy Raju were close friends for the past 20 years. On the night of March 16, the accused, along with Seshagiri Rao, gathered at the farmhouse in a mango grove belonging to one Teegala Sankara Rao of Veduruvada. After a routine chit-chat, they slept the night at the farmhouse.

At about 5 am the next day, Rama Prasad was brushing his teeth with a neem stick and had kept his 36 rifle and its magazine separately on a cement bench on the farmhouse premises. Noticing this, the ASP questioned him as to why he kept the rifle and magazine separately, to which Ram Prasad replied that the rifle bolt was stuck and not working.

With an intention to find a solution to the problem, the ASP picked up the rifle and without noticing the bullet in the barrel, tried to open the bolt. Incidentally, Ram Prasad came in front of the rifle just as it went off. The bullet pierced Ram Prasad’s left upper arm, who died within minutes.

The ASP, Seshagiri Rao, Krishna Murthy and Vijaya Bhaskar along with driver Appanna shifted the body in a car (registration number AP 30 0222) to the residence of the deceased at Yendada near Madhurawada in Visakhapatnam. They all resolved to tell the cops that Rama Prasad died after the bullet misfired from his gun when he was cleaning it. They handed over the weapon to Rama Prasad’s brother.

Later, one Subba Raju and doctor Chatterjee visited Rama Prasad’s house and declared that he was dead. Then, they all shifted the body to KGH in Visakhapatnam where the doctors declared him brought dead, the SP added.

A prima-facie case against the accused has been established and the police are investigating.