Vizag techie gets death in US for killing a 10-month-old girl and her grandmother

Hyderabad: The Montgomery County Court of the US has sentenced a Vizag techie to death for killing a 10-month-old girl and her grandmother.

Yandamuri Raghunandan, 27, was found guilty five days ago. The court passed the death sentence on Tuesday. While passing the death penalty the jury said that Raghunandan did not show any remorse during the trial and tried to defend his actions.

After the judgement defence attorney Henry Hilles said that Raghunandan didn’t show any emotion but was seen writing furiously on a notepad.

“I believe if he had expressed remorse we would have had a better chance to save his life,” Hilles said.

The accused who belongs to Visakhapatnam, killed Saanvi Venna, the baby, and her grandmother, Satyavathi Venna, 61, during an attempt to kidnap the baby for ransom in Pennsylvania on October 22, 2012.

The jury found Raghunandan guilty of two counts of first degree murder. Raghunandan had gone to the US on an H-1B visa to study his MS in 2007. Police found that he was a gambler and had a $20,000 debt. He knew the child’s family in the US.

He slashed Satyavathi’s neck and stuffed a handkerchief into Saanvi’s mouth and put her in a suitcase.

Initially, he had confessed to the crime, but had later retracted alleging that cops had forced him to confess and blamed it on two White men.

CCTV footage revealed there were no “white men” involved as he had claimed. DNA evidence also linked him to the crime.