HYDERABAD: Karimnagar police on Monday arrested 16 persons in connection with the kidnap and murder case of a 42-year-old car driver at Nedunur village in Karimnagar district on July 29.
The driver, N Tirupathi, was kidnapped by main accused G Surender along with his associates - Satyanarayana, V Nagaraju, V Trimurthy and K Chandar Rao - from Gundlapalli village in a car on July 29 night while he was waiting at a shop. They hacked him to death in the bushes near Nedunur. "The five accused have criminal history," Karimnagar police commissioner V Satyanarayana said.
Along with the five accused, police also arrested 11 of their associates - G Srinivas, G Narender, J Rajaiah, N Ellayya, N Gangaraju, G Praveen, P Tirupathi, K Sampath, O Ganapathi Reddy, O Venkat Reddy and D Komuraiah - on the charges of murdering Tirupathi. These associates helped the five main accused in executing the murder, police said.
During the investigation, the accused confessed that they killed the driver suspecting that that he was playing a role in displaced people whose lands in Nedunur were submerged in Lower Manair Dam (LMD) water not being able to receive government compensation.
The accused were produced before the court. They were remanded in judicial custody.
