NELLORE: The district police have claimed to have solved the mystery behind series of murders that were committed in the past at temples as well as at other places with the arrest of 12-member Marathi-speaking inter-State killer gang.

The arrested persons had been identified as Biyya Guravappa, Nataraj, Ravi, Kotrasi, Yuvraj, Kuruvalla Jaggireddy, Anjanappa, Narayana Swamy, Manjunath, Kedamanchi Venkateswarlu, S. K. Imam Saheb and S. K. Mohammad Ali, who hail from Maharashtra and are settled in different parts of the State, Superintendent of Police K. Laxmi Reddy told reporters on Tuesday.

Mr. Reddy said that during the course of interrogation, the arrested persons confessed that they were involved in several crimes, including the double murders that took place at Sri Anjaneyaswami temple at Kaluvayi and Nava Baladurga temple at Nellore.

The killers also admitted that they had killed watchmen at different wine shops at Kota, Chillakur and Gudur mandals in the district, he said.

The gang confessed to their involvement of several murders at Srikalahasti of Chittoor, Rompicherla of Guntur and Basar of Adilabad districts. The police recovered knives, different kinds of blades as well as iron tools, besides cash and gold.

The police said that the gang usually moves around in suburbs and commits heinous crimes at temples, individual houses, petrol bunks and other lonely places. "They first kill ruthlessly whoever they see at the scene of offence and flee with the booty," the SP said.

The district police have alerted all other district police with regard to the presence of 100 such families belonging to the same gang.

Mr. Reddy also announced rewards for the police team led by Additional Superintendent of Police J. Kanaka Rao, Town Sub-Divisional Police Officer S. Padma Nageswara Rao and Central Crime Station Circle Inspector D. Venkateswarlu.

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