HYDERABAD: What was Ramulu, the man accused of killing nine persons for paltry sums, doing from May to November in the year 2006? With his arrest over, Cyberabad police are now trying to answer this crucial question in the backdrop of a large number of murders remaining unsolved in their jurisdiction.

Police claimed the alleged serial killer murdered three persons from January to May last year. Scared of police tracking him down, he fled to his native village in Kurnool before returning to city in December and killing six more within a week. "It is difficult to believe that a person, who killed six persons within a week for money ranging from Rs.3 to Rs.600, led a calm life earlier," a police official remarked.

Wife and children

Initially, Ramulu told police that he was an orphan. But now he claims that he has a wife and two children in Kurnool. "The way he lured his targets to secluded places, strangled them using a towel and then smashed their heads with boulders did not make us believe his version," puzzled police officials said. A special team is leaving for Kurnool to ascertain these revelations.

They are sceptical about Ramulu's claims because of the disturbingly large number of clueless murder cases reported in Cyberabad in the last three years. For example, 11 out of 29 murder cases reported were closed as undetected in 2004 in Alwal division alone.

Homicides

Though the number of homicides under investigation in year 2006 is also too high -14 out of 16 reported in Ibrahimpatnam division - police say reasons such as delay in issuing post-mortem report, medical certificates and other legal formalities were behind the dismal figures.

Police officials feel Ramulu's case has helped them in more than one way. They are now verifying all murders reported in their areas and in the city in which the modus operandi was smashing heads of victims with boulders.

"Two persons in Miyapur of Balanagar division and three persons in Alwal division were killed in similar fashion. If not Ramulu, probably, we may come across involvement of other gangs or individuals," police said.

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