Visakhapatnam: A series of contract killing incidents and use of fire arms in Vizag city has revealed that supari culture (contract killings) is on the rise in the city, perceived to be a city of peace and tranquility.
On September 14, a local leader of YSRC Party and oil businessman Thota Rama Rao alias Oil Ramu, 48, was gunned down by a supari gang led by K. Siva Santhosh Raja.
The killers were given Rs 3 lakh as advance and the deal was settled for Rs 15 lakh by Ramu’s business rival M. Srinivasa Reddy.
“The five-member supari gang was arrested, but Reddy is still absconding,” said DCP Navin Gulati.
The Bheemili police on Wednesday arrested three persons — B.Tech graduate Ch. Peter Bhushan Kumar, his mother Vijayamaala and his friend Rajyavardhan — for killing Peter’s father Ch. Yeshu Das. A police investigation revealed that the trio had approached a supari gang to eliminate Yeshu Das, but the gang had refused as the deal was low.
Police sources said supari gangs killed four persons in 2015 and the gangs procured country-made fire arms from Odisha and West Bengal.
A senior police officer on condition of anonymity said that some local rowdy-sheeters were leading the supari gangs. The sources said task force police had swung into action to identify and nab the contract killing gangs in the city.
