Twist in Seethanagaram Case: Police On Lookout For Body Of Man Killed Before Rape

TADEPALLI: The sensational Seethanagaram rape case got murkier after the Tadepalli police launched a search in the Krishna river on Tuesday for the body of a man named Anand, who was allegedly murdered before the rape incident.

As per details, the accused confessed to the police that before raping the woman they had earlier murdered a man. The accused Sher Krishna who was caught by the cops admitted that they had murdered the man and stole his money and phone. The two accused Sher Krishna and Venkat Reddy had given the stolen cell phones of the man and the victims to one Sheik Habib who was also arrested by the police.

Anand, a resident of Chintalapudi in West Godavari district was working as a  hawker. As per the police the accused-duo who were used to a wayward life were doing sundry works  for a living. When they had no work in hand would steal copper wires from the railway tracks. Anand had apparently seen them stealing copper wires from railway tracks on that day and fearing that they would be caught they strangled him with a wire, tied his body to an iron girder and threw his body into the Krishna river.  After that, they started consuming alcohol on the banks when they spotted the couple sitting there and proceeded to follow up the murder with a gang rape on June 19th.

On June 22, Anand's wife Mridula complained to the police that her husband was missing and that the last time Anand had been on the railway bridge from where he had called her. Police registered a case on June 23 over the incident. The police confirmed that the missing person was Anand who was killed by the duo.

Sher Krishna and Habib were arrested by the police and the accused showed the police where the body was dumped during the interrogation. Police on Tuesday carried out search operations in the Krishna River for Anand’s body.

Despite searching for five hours, yielded no result. The swimmers said that as the  Krishna River was flooded twice where over 5 lakh cusecs of floodwater were released after the June 19 incident, the body might have been washed away and could possibly be stranded somewhere downstream. Police, along with swimmers and NDRF teams, are preparing to search for Anand's body once the water levels in the Krishna River recede.

Police said that after the incident the accused fled to Ranigari Thota and slept there for the night. The next morning, the duo went to Tadepalli and gave the stolen cell phones to their friend Habib to sell. After the news that the police had launched a manhunt for them, the duo ran away to Ongole and spent a day there and later went on separate ways. Krishna roamed in Karnataka, Telangana, and reached Secunderabad station. Krishna had returned to Vijayawada and was caught by the police when he was walking on the tracks towards Tadepalli. Police teams are still on the lookout for Venkat Reddy who is on the run.

Also Read: Seethanagaram Case: AP Police Arrest Accused Near Ongole, Lookout for Another