Vijayawada, February 05: Six days after the kidnap and murder of schoolgirl Vaishnavi, the Vijayawada police arrested two persons in connection with the case.
The accused were identified as Morla Srinivas (38) and Vemparala Jagadish (26) of Guntur district and cases were registered against them under Ssections 302, 363, 364, 201, 120 (B), r/w 34 under IPC and crime no. 56/10 against them in Satyanarayanapuram police station.
The police produced both the accsued before First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate M R Satyanarayana at his residence. The judge ordered remand for the accused till February 18 in Vijayawada district jail.
Disclosing the details of Vaishanavi’s murder case, Vijayawada Police Commissioner K V Rajendranath Reddy said that both the accused – Morla Srinivas and Jagadish – followed the car in which Prabhakara Rao’s daughter and son were going to school and attacked it on BRTS Road on January 30.
They killed car driver Lakshmana Rao when he tried to resist them and took away Vaishnavi with them in the same vehicle. However, Vaishnavi’s brother Sai Tejesh managed to escape from the kidnappers.
Later, the accused abandoned the vehicle near a Railway track at Sitanagaram in Guntur district where they took a Tata Safari vehicle and left towards Managalagiri.
While Jagadish was driving the vehicle, Srinivasa Rao, who was in the back seat, strangled Vaishanavi. Later, the body was kept in a shed at Autonagar in Guntur district. The body was brought to Sarada Industry owned by Srinivasa Rao around 9.30 a.m. and burned the body by throwing it into a furnace on the same night.
The Commissioner of Police said that they were yet to arrest Venkata Rao, who is accused in the case.
Srinivasa Rao, owner of Sarada Industry, in Guntur is a cousin of Venkata Rao. Jagadish is working as a collection agent of Srinivasa Rao.
The CP said the police made hectic efforts to nab the culprits in the case.
He said immediately after receiving information of kidnap, SPs of neighbouring districts were alerted. He said two two-wheelers and two fourwheelers were seized in connection with the case.
–Agencies