Hyderabad: A 46-year-old businessman-turned-politician was found murdered in an open space at a busy residential area in Sanathnagar on Thursday morning. The police said the victim, Vallabhaneni Srinivas Rao, a TRS leader, was hit on his head by a log and beer bottles. It was found that Srinivas had consumed alcohol with three unidentified persons till late night on Wednesday. According to sources, he had enmity with a local TRS leader and had approached the police complaining of a threat. The police, however, rejected his claims. On Wednesday night, he approached the SR Nagar police complaining of nuisance by a group of people in front of his house.
V. Srinivas Rao, hailing from West Godavari district in AP, moved to Hyderabad after his post-graduate studies. After working for a private company for a few years, he founded the VCR Charitable Trust and was residing in Lingaiah Nagar in Balkampet. He also established VS Rao Educational Consultancy, offering jobs to youths in India and abroad.
On Wednesday night, he came to Sanathnagar along with three unidentified men. According to eyewitnesses, all of them consumed liquor on the ground floor of an under-construction building in front of the the Sanathnagar bus stop. On Thursday morning, the residents found him lying in a pool of blood and alerted the police. The police said that the suspects could have hit him with a wooden log and beer bottles.
“The motive behind the murder is not known and we are verifying the facts. We are working on different angles and will soon solve the case,” said Dr Y. Sai Shekar, DCP Balanagar. On Wednesday night, Srinivas approached the police, stating that a few persons were creating nuisance near his house.“A police team went there, but the situation was peaceful,” Mr M. Waheeduddin, inspector of SR Nagar, said.
Srinivas accused in 2 criminal cases
Srinivas Rao has two criminal cases and a petty case pending against him at the SR Nagar police station. During a party meeting recently, he was assaulted by TRS activists and a case was registered at the Sanathnagar station.Srinivas was married in 2000 and divorced in 2005. He married again in 2006 and was staying at Balkampet. After his wife left for Malaysia a few months ago, he was staying alone.
Srinivas’ wife’s relative had filed a criminal case against him. A few months ago, Ms Seshu Kumari, Amee-rpet corporator, had lodged a complaint for insulting the modesty of a woman. According to sources, though he was into charity, he often picked up arguments with others. Earlier, he was working with the Congress. However, his entry into the TRS fold did not go well with the local leadership. Many party leaders had differences with him.
Cops left clueless over defective cctvs
Two CCTV cameras, installed by the police in the vicinity where Srinivas was found murdered, are not functioning, leaving the police clueless on the electronic evidence. One of them was installed recently and is dysfunctional due to a technical snag.
According to sources, one of the cameras, installed more than a year ago, was located about 30 meters away from where Srinivas’ body was found. It went off a few weeks ago and was awaiting repair. A new camera, installed recently, was located 10 meters away from the spot and could have captured the incident if it was functioning properly.
