A 32-year-old man was hacked to death in broad daylight at Kothapeta locality of Dharmavaram town in Sri Sathya Sai district on Thursday (September 4) evening. Within 24 hours, the police arrested the accused and declared that the murder was an act of revenge by a local merchant, whose father was killed in a brawl last year.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Superintendent of Police (SP) V. Ratna said that the deceased, Lokendra, had allegedly murdered a garlic merchant, Srinivasulu, the father of Bhuchipalli Balakrishna Reddy (38), during a drunken brawl in Dharmavaram last year. Balakrishna, who had been waiting for an opportunity to retaliate, struck the final blow on Thursday.
On the fateful evening, as Lokendra sat on his bike outside a supermarket with his father nearby, a car rammed into his bike and sent him crashing to the ground. In a flash, Balakrishna and his business partners, Syed Iliyaz and Derangula Anjaneyulu, leapt out, wielding sharp weapons and hacked him to death using sickles. Before killing Lokendra, Balakrishna had reportedly shouted: “You killed my father, now you are finished.”
After the killing, the trio fled in their car. The SP said that a special party detected their movement with the help of latest technology. On Friday (September 5) night, they were nabbed from a hideout in Dharmavaram. The police seized a car, mobile phones, and the sickles used for the murder. The trio was sent for remand.
