Hyderabad: Pennsylvania’s high court upheld the death sentence for Vizag techie Yandamuri Raghunandan for killing a 10-month-old girl and her grandmother. In October, 2014, the Montgomery County Court had pronounced capital punishment for him after he was found guilty of the brutal murders. Raghunandan killed the two in 2012 in an attempt to kidnap the baby for ransom.
After the judgement was pronounced, Democratic Governor Tom Wolf imposed a moratorium on executions. Raghunandan, who hails from Visakhapatnam, killed Saanvi Venna, the baby, and her grandmother, Satyavathi Venna, 61, during an attempt to kidnap the baby for ransom on October 22, 2012. Raghunandan, a gambling addict, had $20,000 debt, and he was planning to get the money from the girl’s parents. Raghunandan went to US on an H-1B visa to study MS in 2007. Raghunandan was a friend of the child’s parents. Police said that he slashed Satyavati’s neck, stuffed a kerchief into Saanvi’s mouth and put her in a suitcase.
