Three persons, including a woman, were arrested in the sensational case of the beheading of auto driver Gaddam Praveen.
Three persons, including a woman, were arrested by the Miyapur police in the sensational case of the beheading of an auto driver, Gaddam Praveen, 22, of Srivaninagar Colony, Ameenpur, Sangareddy district.
Praveen was a native of Teegalaveni village under Gudur mandal of Mahaboobabad district.
The arrested were identified as Dokku Srikanth Yadav, 30; Kukkala Naga Srinu, 20; and Dokku Swathi, 27. They are all residents of Miyapur, and are natives of Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh.
A Venkateshwara Rao, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Madhapur), said that Srikanth Yadav had killed Praveen as he had suspected the latter of planning to kill him with the help of a few others.
Srikanth was previously involved in an attempt-to-murder case reported at the Ameenpur police station in 2017, and Praveen was his close associate.
"Srikanth suspected that Praveen was planning to eliminate him as for the last few months Praveen had been working closely with the person whom Srikanth had attempted to kill in 2017. Their common friends tried to negotiate a compromise between them to douse the escalating tension," said the DCP. "However, Srikanth continued to live under a constant apprehension that Praveen would kill him, and to pre-empt that act, killed Praveen himself."
Elaborating further, the DCP said that Srikanth decided to kill Praveen with the assistance of his wife Swathi and an associate Naga Srinu. On Thursday night, Srikanth and Srinu brought Praveen to the former's house in an auto which was driven by an accomplice Rajesh. Srikanth strangled Praveen to death with a scarf. Post his demise, Srikanth, Srinu and Rajesh took the body to an isolated place in Miyapur, beheaded it and threw the severed head at the Miyapur crossroads.
On a complaint from Mallani Keshava, 23, of Ambedkarnagar, Miyapur, the police registered a case under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC, and Sec 3 (2) (v) of the SC, ST (POA) Act, and arrested Srikanth, Srinu and Swathi on Sunday.
The complainant said that he had seen the head of the deceased in front of a restaurant named Tasty Kings Bakery, at the Miyapur crossroads.
The DCP said that the principal accused, Srikanth, had a criminal history of beating people up over petty issues, and was involved in an attempt-to-murder case in 2017 as mentioned earlier, as also a hurt case registered in the Ramachandrapuram Police Station. He was active in the auto-rickshaw rental business and in lending money to auto-rickshaw drivers.