PEDDAPALLI : Hastening investigation into the murder of lawyer couple Gattu Vaman Rao and PV Nagamani, the police on Monday arrested Bittu Seenu for providing a car and two knives to the main accused in the case.The police, after interrogating Seenu for four days, arrested him upon obtaining evidence indicative of his involvement in the murder.The police detained Seenu based on the statement given by the main accused — TRS leader Kunta Srinivas (who has since been suspended from the party), Sivandula Chiranjeevi and Akkapaka Kumar, who were arrested on February 18 for the twin murders.
Seenu is the nephew of TRS leader and Peddapalli ZP chairman Putta Madhu. He also happens to be a close friend of Kunta Srinivas, whom he has known for six years. According to the police, Srinivas and Seenu were biding their time to eliminate Vaman Rao and his wife Nagamani, as they used to create a lot of trouble for them. On February 17, Srinvas called up Seenu to enquire if Vaman Rao was at the Manthani court. Seenu then contacted another person named Kunta Latchaiah, who was on the court premises at the time. Latchaiah confirmed that the lawyer couple was, in fact, present there.
Seenu then rang up Chiranjeevi, and asked him to rush to Manthani bus stand with the knives he possessed. The latter arrived at the spot on his bike with the weapons. Later, Seenu lent his car to Chiranjeevi, who transferred the weapons into the car and drove off to meet Srinivas. After committing the murder, Srinivas and Chiranjeevi informed Seenu that they had killed the lawyer couple. He then asked them to flee to Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, the police on Monday filed a petition in Manthani court seeking seven-day police custody of the accused persons. Last Friday, they were sent to judicial custody for 14 days. Later, the police detained Seenu. They have been trying to get a confessional statement from him since, but haven’t gotten any so far.
Sources said that notices would be issued to Putta Madhu, one of whose followers happens to be Srinivas, asking him to appear before them for questioning.
The situation continues to be grim in the Manthani TRS camp. After the double murder, Putta Madhu’s supporters are maintaining a low profile lest they should attract police attention. While this is so, Manthani bar association passed a resolution on Monday to boycott courts up to March 1, and not to argue the case on behalf of the accused persons.
Another advocate fears for his life
Jangaon: Close on the heels of the murder of a lawyer couple in Peddapalli, a High Court advocate named Durga Prasad alleged that someone tried to kill him while he was on his way to Warangal court from Hyderabad on Monday.
A truck hit the car he was travelling in (in pic) as he reached Yashwanthapur village, and his vehicle was dragged on for nearly 500 m on NH-163. He said that though the driver tried to escape, locals nabbed him and beat him up. The driver, however, said that he hit the car by accident, as the truck’s brakes stopped working. The advocate lodged a complaint with Jangaon police, stating that his life was under threat and that there was no safety for lawyers in the State