india

Updated: May 01, 2019 09:58 IST

The Telangana police on Tuesday arrested a 28-year man who had allegedly raped and killed three minor girls at Hajipur village of Bommalaramaram block of Yadadri Bhongir district and another woman in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district over a period of four years.

Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagawat told reporters in Hyderabad that the accused, identified as Marri Srinivas Reddy, was a bachelor and was addicted to alcohol and pornographic movies.

“He attempted to wipe out evidences by dumping the dead bodies of three minor girls in abandoned wells in the on the outskirts of the village and that of the Kurnool victim in the water tank of her house,” Bhagawat said.

While the body a 14-year-old ninth standard girl who went missing on Friday evening, was fished out of an abandoned well on the outskirts of village late in the night, skeletal remains of another 17-year-old girl, who had gone missing from the same village in March, were found in the same well on Monday.

Bhagawat also confirmed that Reddy had raped and murdered another 12-year-old girl of Maisireddipalle village, adjacent to Hajipur, who went missing in 2015. On Tuesday, the police with the help of local villagers, searched the agricultural well to trace the body of this girl. “The body is likely to be exhumed by late in the evening,” he said.

The Commissioner said the 14-year-old girl who was the latest victim was returning from her school and was waiting under a tree at Bommalaramaram for transport, when Reddy offered her a lift. “Since Reddy belonged to the same village, she did not suspect him. On their way, he took her to isolated place near an abandoned well, raped her and smothered her, before throwing her body into the well,” he said.

Following a complaint by the girl’s parents, the police launched a manhunt and later in the night found her school bag near the well. Later, they fished out the girl’s body from the well. Post-mortem confirmed that she was raped and beaten to death.

The police apprehended Reddy on Sunday after a tip off. “During the interrogation, he admitted to have committed the offence,” the commissioner said.

He further said Reddy also admitted to have committed rape and murder of two more minor girls and a woman since 2015.

On March 9 this year, he had raped and murder of another 17-year-old undergraduate commerce student and dumped her body in the same abandoned well. The police team, which went to the crime spot to recreate the scene of offence, found the skeletal remains of the girl in the well.

Though the girl had gone missing, her father did not file any police complaint thinking that she might have eloped with her boyfriend. But after the police discovered her skeletal remains, he lodged a formal complaint.

In 2015, Reddy abducted an 12-year old girl of Maisireddipalle village while she was on her way to home from Hajipur village. He took her to an isolated place, sexually assaulted her and later killed her by smothering. “He packed her body in a gunny bag and dumped it in the well belonging to a local farmer. We are now trying to exhume the body by tonight,” Bhagawat said.

In 2016, Reddy went to Kurnool for fixing a lift on behalf of a private lift manufacturer and stayed in a rented house along with four others. They engaged a sex worker and after spending time with her, they killed her and dumped her dead body in the water tank, before vacating the house. “In 2017, he and four others were arrested by Kurnool police. Later, he came out on bail,” the commissioner said.

Meanwhile, the situation in Hajiipur turned tense as soon as the second body was recovered. Reddy’s family fled the village after irate villagers set fire to his house and demanded that the accused be killed by police.

The Rachakonda police seized a motor bike, two mobile phones and a tool kit from Reddy’s possession. He will be produced in the court on Wednesday.