The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Lodge owner murdered in city

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Monday, Dec 21, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Lodge owner murdered in city

Staff Reporter

Row over land adjacent to lodge said to be reason

HYDERABAD: A 60-year-old lodge owner, who was in Ayyappa swami ‘deeksha’, was hacked to death in his lodge at Krishnanagar under Banjara Hills police station limits on Sunday morning.

The assailants entered Srikanth lodge in the guise of customers to book a room and met the owner, S. Hanumantha Rao, in the corridor on the ground floor after he completed morning pooja. They overpowered him and attacked him with a hunting sickle resulting in grievous injuries around his neck. Death was instant for Hanumantha Rao, according to the police.

Police, quoting Rao’s family members’, said a dispute over 750 square yards of land worth over Rs.3 crore adjacent to the lodge could be the reason for the brutal murder.

Lodge supervisor Sam Reddy first noticed the body in the corridor and alerted Rao’s family staying on the third floor of the same lodge.

At loggerheads

Police inquiries revealed that Mr. Rao and his rivals were at loggerheads over the ownership of the 750-square yard plot for the past few years.

A case is also pending in the Supreme Court regarding the ownership of the land.

It was alleged that Rao encroached some portion of the disputed land and started a business.

He also owned a marble business in the same locality.

Case registered

Based on a complaint lodged by Hanumantha Rao’s son Laxman, police registered a murder case and are collecting more details from the relatives of the deceased person.

“We are investigating the case from all angles,” said Banjara Hills Inspector Mohammed Iqbal Siddique.

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