The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Police high on twin successes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 12, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Police high on twin successes

Staff Reporter

Former CTO's murder mystery solved; 3 held in gang war case

HYDERABAD: The city police are riding high on a success wave! Continuing the trend of solving difficult cases and cracking down on culprits, the police unravelled the mystery behind the murder of a retired commercial tax officer (CTO), and rounded up three persons indulging in gang wars in another case.

Contrary to initial suspicions of personal animosity being the motive, it was found that the former CTO, M. Subbaraya Shetty (74), was murdered for gain by a painter, K. Krishna, the Commissioner of Police, V. Dinesh Reddy, said at a press conference.

The decomposed body of Shetty, a bachelor and living alone, was found in his flat at Ashoknagar in March. The only clues the detectives could rely on was that his mobile was taken away by the offender.

Probe from this angle, too, reached a dead end when the mobile phone could not be accessed, the Chikkadpally Inspector, V.N.V. Satyanarayana, said.

But continued monitoring of calls from the victim's mobile led the police to Krishna of Uppuguda in the old city who admitted to the police that he planned to kill the old man after seeing huge sums of money in a locker while painting the flat earlier.

On March 19, Krishna went to the flat and Shetty, apparently aware of the security risk, did not allow him inside.

When Krishna pleaded for some money, he went inside. Gopal followed him, closed the door and threatened to kill Shetty with a knife. "To scare him, I slashed his wrist. But, Shetty resisted forcing me to slit his throat," Krishna told reporters.

Real estate disputes

In the other case, the arrest of Syed Asghar Hussain, Mohd. Anwaruddin and Zaid Bin Mohammed by a Task Force team brought to fore gang wars and contract killings in real estate disputes. The three were members of a gang led by a history-sheeter, Ahmed Bin Salam, of Banjara Hills. Salam's business partner, Shekhar Raidu, was allegedly killed by his rival gang comprising Ayub Khan and Prabhakar Raidu, through a hired assassin.

In retaliation, Salam allegedly got Prabhakar killed near Panjagutta police station a month ago. On learning that Ayub vowed to avenge Prabhakar's killing, Salam hatched a plan to eliminate Ayub too, and struck a deal with Hussain to pay Rs. 10 lakhs. Salam arranged a Webley Scott revolver and two country-made revolvers to Hussain.

On a tip-off, the police rounded up Hussain and his two associates. The Task Force DCP, M. Shiva Prasad, said efforts were on to find out from where the accused persons had procured Webley Scott revolver and nab Salam and his gang members.

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