20-yr-old, juvenile among those held for murder of vegetable vendor in Warangal

Warangal: A 20-year-old youngster, Adepu Akash, who was involved in the brutal murder of a vegetable vendor, at Hanamkonda on September 3, was arrested by the Warangal police on Wednesday.

Two others, including a juvenile, who gave Akash shelter by taking money from him were also arrested.

Akash is the nephew of the victim, D. Sharada and he killed her to steal the money which she had been saving for her daughter’s marriage. He also attacked her son Akhil, who suffered serious injuries in the incident.

Warangal police commissioner P. Pramod Kumar informed that they have seized stolen gold ornaments and Rs 2.71 lakh cash from the accused. “Akash was earlier involved in a case of damaging CCTV cameras in Warangal area,” Pramod Kumar said.

According to the police, Sharada has been living at Tailor street along with Akhil and making a living by selling vegetables, while her daughter was studying engineering in Hyderabad.

A few months ago, after being scolded by his father Ramesh for not doing any work, Akash came to his aunt’s residence and stayed with them for some time. During his stay, he noticed her daily routine and also that she saved money in the almirah.

After leaving her place, when Akash could not make money to pay for ganja and his other needs, he decided to steal money from his aunt’s house. As per the plan, he entered Sharada’s house from the rear door, attacked her and her son with a boulder, stole the money and pushed the almirah on to them, to make it appear like an accidental death.

After the offence, he approached the juvenile and another friend M. Machender seeking shelter and paid Rs 51,000 to the juvenile and Rs 1.50 lakh to Machender.

Based on the clues from CCTV footage and other evidence, they were nabbed on Wednesday morning, Pramod Kumar said.