Srikanth, the son of former Minister Vishwarup, is believed to be the prime accused in the murder case of a Dalit youth in Dr. BR Ambedkar’s Konaseema district two years ago. The police, who did not conduct any investigation all these years, recently started an investigation at the initiative of Minister Vasamshetty Subhash.
Another accused in the case, Dharmesh, was recently arrested and sent to remand, while the police are hunting for Srikanth, who is believed to be the mastermind of the murder, along with four other accused. Ainavilli village volunteer Janupalli Durga Prasad went missing on 6 June 2022 and was found dead in the Godavari at Kotipalli.
This incident took place during the Konaseema riots. Initially registered as a case of disappearance, the police changed it to a case of murder based on the post-mortem report. There are allegations that the investigation was completely stopped on the orders of Vishwaroop, a minister in the YSRCP government.
A month ago Durga Prasad’s wife Shravana Sandhya met minister Vasamshetty Subhash and pleaded to punish those who killed her husband and bring justice to her. It was then that the minister brought the matter to the notice of DGP Dwaraka Tirumala Rao. As per the orders of the DGP, the investigation was carried out under the supervision of Kothapat DSP Govinda Rao.
Police interrogated the accused, YSRCP social media convener and friend of the deceased, Vaddi Dharmesh from Uppalaguptam mandal. In this case, it is known that the complete details of the actors, masterminds and the manner of the murder have been collected. They were arrested on 18th of this month and sent to remand.
The police have come to the conclusion that the accused Dharmesh and deceased Durga Prasad were close to Srikanth and actively participated in YSRCP activities. They also found in the investigation that Srikanth, after deciding to kill Durga Prasad, had sought the help of Dharmesh and assigned the responsibility to four others.
Then, Dharmesh took Durga Prasad to Kotipalli jetty on a two-wheeler, followed by four people in the back car. Dharmesh is reported to have said that while a man took him inside in a boat at the dock, three of those who came in the car tied a rope around Durga Prasad’s neck and killed him. It is known that some of the accused who killed Durga Prasad were the prime accused in another murder in Mummidivaram Mandal.
