SC transfers Telangana lawyer couple's murder probe to CBI

New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Tuesday handed over the probe into the 2021 Telangana lawyer couple’s murder to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A bench of Justices M. M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh pronounced the orders, transferring the case to the Central agency, saying the matter requires further investigation.

The apex court was hearing a plea filed by Gattu Kishan Rao seeking a CBI inquiry into the murder of his son, Gattu Vaman Rao and daughter-in-law, P. V. Nagamani.

During the hearing, the Telangana government had conveyed to the Supreme Court that it has no objection to handing over the case to the CBI.

The CBI had also told the Supreme Court that it is ready to probe the murder if directed by the court.

The couple, both practising lawyers in the high court, were brutally murdered in broad daylight in Peddapalli district of Telangana on February 17, 2021, while returning to Hyderabad from a court in Manthani.

Two assailants intercepted their car and attacked them using knives and other weapons on Manthani-Peddapalli road near a village in Ramagiri Mandal.

Videos which went viral on social media showed Vamana Rao, 53, and Nagamani, 50, being repeatedly stabbed by two persons on the road as passersby watched in horror.

Before succumbing to his injuries, Rao spelled out the name of Kunta Srinivas, President of the Manthani mandal unit of the then ruling party, TRS (now BRS).

Police swung into action to arrest three accused, including the main accused, Kunta Srinivas, on the same day.

Srinivas and his associate S. Chiranjeevi, who hacked the couple to death, were picked up near Wankidi in Maharashtra, while the third accused, Akkapaka Kumar, was held in Manthani.

The police had stated that a dispute between Vamana Rao and Kunta Srinivas over land and management of a temple in their native village led to the murder.

Two days later, the police picked up for questioning a close relative of former TRS MLA and Peddapalli Zilla Parishad Chairman Putta Madhukar.

Tulisegari Srinivas alias Bittu Srinu, nephew of Putta Madhukar, had allegedly provided his car and sickles to Kunta Srinivas to carry out the murder.

Police claimed that Srinivas bore a grudge against Vamana Rao for filing some court cases against him, and hence, he planned and carried out the murder. However, the families of the victims were not convinced.

Kishan Rao lodged a complaint, suspecting that Madhukar was the mastermind behind the murder.

In May 2021, Putta Madhukar was arrested in the case. However, police reportedly could not get any strong evidence to prove his involvement.

The police had filed a charge sheet in the case, naming seven accused. Madhukar was not named in the charge sheet.

Kishan Rao had first moved the High Court, seeking a CBI probe. He had termed the investigation by the Telangana Police as "biased and prejudiced". He stated that they tried to portray the case as a small temple issue instead of tracing the culprits.

Kishan Rao stated that Vaman Rao and Nagamani were eliminated by anti-social elements in collusion with the TRS leaders and police officials as the couple was questioning the illegal activities resorted to by Madhukar, the then zilla parishad chairman of Peddapalli, and his wife Shailaja, then chairperson of Manthani municipality.

The High Court, however, observed that there is no need for a CBI probe.

During the hearing in the Supreme Court, counsel for the petitioner argued that Madhukar was involved in the murder and that his name was mentioned in Vaman Rao’s dying declaration. However, the former BRS legislator’s lawyers argued that Madhukar was not involved and had been wrongly implicated.

Kishan Rao’s counsel told the court that the couple had filed several cases before the High Court and legal fora against the state government, police officials and leaders of the then ruling TRS.

--IANS

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