Hyderabad, May 04: Police on Monday solved the mystery behind a murder case that had lain unsolved for three years within the Balanagar police limits in Mahabubnagar district. The 25-year-old victim, Mahender Reddy, was from Jangammet in Hyderabad and used to work for a bootlegger.
West Zone Task Force sleuths caught the bootlegger and two hired assassins who killed Mahender Reddy. They recovered a dagger and two mobile phones from them.
According to the police, Mahender Reddy used to work for Nishannam Thomas alias Thomas, a bootlegger from Gowlipura.
Reddy used to transport illicit distilled (ID) liquor for which he was paid Rs 500 per car trip and Rs 1,500 per van trip.
In August 2006, Reddy, while driving Thomas’s family from Srisailam, met with an accident in which Thomas’s seven-yearold son, Dheeraj, suffered severe injuries and went into coma. As a result, Thomas sacked Mahender Reddy following which the latter started giving information to the excise police about his former employer’s ID liquor activities.
In vengeance, Thomas decided to have Mahender Reddy killed. He approached his friend Miskeen Khan alias Waheed Khan alias Miskeen, of Falaknuma and sought his help for a payment of Rs 25,000, Task Force DCP VB Kamalasan Reddy said.
Miskeen sought the help of a friend, Mohd Irfan Hussain alias Irfan of Falaknuma and they decided to execute the killing.
On April 5, 2007, Miskeen, Irfan and Thomas invited Mahender Reddy to his house at NS Kunta and they all consumed liquor. The trio made Mahender Reddy drink excessively and then slit his throat with a dagger. They dumped the body on the outskirts of Balanagar in Mahbubnagar district.
The murder came to light next day but remained unsolved as the identity of the deceased could not be established. Task Force sleuths, who started probing into the three-year-old missing case, came to know that Mahender Reddy was working for the bootlegger and on suspicion picked him up. On interrogation, Thomas spilled the beans and subsequently, the killer trio were nabbed.
–Agencies–