Guntur, Aug 9 (IANS): Police in Andhra Pradesh are still hunting for the second accused in the sensational gang rape case on the Krishna river bank at Seethanagaram, even as one of them was nabbed recently.
Guntur range deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Trivikram Varma confirmed on Monday that they are hunting for Prasanna Reddy, the second accused.
"Second accused Venkat Reddy is still absconding," Varma told IANS on Monday.
On June 19, around 8.30 p.m. two persons, Reddy and Seru Krishna Kishore, overpowered a couple at Seethanagaram Pushkar Ghat in Tadepalli on the sand banks of Krishna river and gang raped the woman who hails from Vijayawada city and used to work as a nurse.
Reddy and Kishore threatened them with a razor blade that they will kill them and compelled the couple to disrobe.
"They tied the couple with the clothes, raped the woman and later snatched their phones, including threatening to kill them if they reveal what happened," said a police official.
Shockingly before raping the woman, the duo had committed a bigger crime of murdering a hawker who used to sell peanuts in trains.
According to the police, Kishore ekes out a living doing ceiling works in house constructions and came in contact with Tadepalli Mahanadu resident Reddy, who does cupboard works.
"Both of them used to go to work together and spend the money earned to fund their wayward lifestyle. But when there was no work, they took to stealing copper wires from railway tracks," he said.
On that fateful day around 8 p.m., when they were trying to steal copper wires from Seethanagaram railway bridge, a train halted by and a peanut vendor disembarked to see what the duo was up to.
"Fearing that the hawker would disclose the crime to police, they caught him and tied his hands and legs. Later, they fastened a noose on his neck with a copper wire and strangled him to death and dumped his body in the Krishna river," said the police officer.
After killing the hawker and loitering on the sand banks of the river, the duo laid their eyes on the couple and proceeded to follow up the murder with a gang rape.
Sensing that the police came to the crime spot, Reddy and Krishna fled in a boat towards Vijayawada.
They reached Ranigari Thota and slept on the sand bank of the river that night. Next morning, the duo went to Tadepalli and gave the cell phones stolen from the couple to their friend Habib to sell.
Fearing that the police would come after them, they ran away to Ongole and spent a day there and later separated their ways.
From then on, Krishna roamed in Hubli in Karnataka and worked for a week at Nirmal, Telangana and another week in Bainsa to work as a labourer.
Following this, he took a train to Secunderabad and lived by rag picking and stayed at a Saibaba temple near Secunderabad railway station.
However, on Saturday, he decided to see his mother for sometime and would again flee. Kishore reached Vijayawada by train and was walking by the tracks towards Tadepalli when police swooped on him.
Police formed six teams to nab the accused and managed to capture Kishore while Reddy is still on the run. The teams searched for them in AP, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and several other places.