The Hindu : Front Page : `Cyberabad killings were for gain'

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Tuesday, Jan 09, 2007
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`Cyberabad killings were for gain'

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: The Cyberabad police, who arrested three persons in connection with the serial murders on city outskirts, have maintained that `murder for gain' was the motive for the gruesome killings.

The angle of `unnatural sex' being the motive had not come up in the investigation so far. However, the possibility of the murder suspects being `psychopaths' would be ascertained through psychiatric tests soon, Cyberabad Commissioner of Police S. Prabhakar Reddy told reporters here on Monday.

Mr. Reddy said the arrested migrant labourers were pathetic addicts to liquor. "They committed these murders for paltry amounts, just to quench their thirst for liquor," he said. However, gains from these murders ranged from Rs. 3 to Rs.600. He maintained that of the nine victims, seven were young and hence could be tempted for a drink easily.

The police had so far pieced together the serial killings allegedly carried out by N. Ramulu, Pakkiri Pavan, A. Ravinder Reddy and Bihari Venkat, who is still at large, in a flashback.

The Shamshabad police were working on the double murder of Mohd. Dastagir and Md. Mohammed, who were last seen with Pavan at a Mailardevpally wine shop on January 2. Pavan confessed to the police that he and Ramulu had killed Dastagir and Mohammed by luring them to engage sex workers in the isolated hills of Kattedan. While Dastagir was first taken aside by Ramulu and killed, Mohammed was tempted to peep into Dastagir's activities and then killed. This earned them Rs.400 and two mobile phones.

Three days before, they killed two persons, who are yet to be identified, to pocket Rs.30 and Rs.70. After this, they picked up Radhabai, had toddy with her, raped her and then "threw a boulder" on her head at Thimmapur. Radhabai had only Rs.3 on her.

Mistress throttled

Before these five murders, Pavan throttled his mistress Laxmi to death on December 29. According to the confessions, the first murder was committed on January 5, 2006, when Ramulu and Ravinder Reddy killed one Jagan at Kamunicheruvu to take Rs.600.

They killed Vijay Kumar near Shamshabad five days later. On May 3, along with Venkat, they killed P. Gopal, a security guard at the International Airport area to steal Rs.100 and a mobile.

However, the police could not explain as to why it was pure coincidence during a routine investigation that led to the cracking of the case. Despite eight bodies having been recovered in three police station limits that were in the close vicinity and the same killing pattern, the similarities were not linked.

All the victims, when their bodies were recovered, had their heads smashed with boulders after being intoxicated.

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