The Hindu : Couple found murdered on highway

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 23, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Couple found murdered on highway

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI. Jan. 22. In a gruesome incident, a couple was found murdered at the Tadukupet cross, about 20 kms from here on the Tirupati-Chennai highway. The bodies of the young couple-- Raju (30) and Nagalakshmi (25) -- were found lying in a pool of blood with multiple stab injuries on the road in front of their way-side eating house which they had been running for the last 18 months.

According to the SP, Chittoor, Ramachandra Raju, and the Clues and the forensic teams which reached the spot in the morning, the offence must have been committed between 3.30 a.m. and 4 a.m. and more than two assailants must have been involved, going by the evidence of resistance put up by the couple before falling dead. The woman was seven months pregnant and suffered seven stab wounds-- three more than her husband. But she was alive gasping for life even minutes after the neighbours, alerted by the crew of a lorry passing-bye, rushed to the spot and tried to take her to the hospital. Her husband, however, succumbed to injuries before the neighbours could reach the spot. Police found the mangalasuthrams of the woman also missing and launched a massive hunt for the killers.

A sniffer dog— Browny, which reached the spot from Chittoor, went up to a stone quarry and stopped. Police found bloodstains on the road a little away from the bodies indicating that the killers wiped them out on the roadside before leaving the scene. The SP said that seven special teams were formed and despatched in different directions to track-down the assailants.

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Andhra Pradesh