Hyderabad: Rajanikanth’s sticker helps cops deduce Nirmala’s murderer
Nellore: A sticker of superstar Rajanikanth pasted on an autorickshaw helped the police identify the vehicle and apprehend an accused in a murder case that had at first appeared to present no clues.
The victim, B. Nirmala Bai, 45, a private school employee, was living alone at Ramalingapuram in Nellore. Her son works in Bengaluru and the daughter is pursuing a lab technician’s course at Tirupati.
The man who was apprehended for the murder, Vemasani Srikanth alias Rajanikanth 22, of Arvindnagar in Nellore, was alleged to be in a relationship with her for more than six months.
Nirmala was found in flames by students living in her building on May 28. They called the police who began with the assumption it was an accident caused by a gas cylinder that was accidentally left open. The case took a twist when the autopsy report said Nirmala had been stabbed in her neck.
As there were no indications of a struggle at the scene of offence, police suspected the hand of some persons that Nirmala knew in the murder. Then, while checking CCTV for clues, police found an autorickshaw parked outside the building where Nirmala stayed. This three-wheeler had a picture of Rajanikanth pasted on it
The police began to search for the autorickshaw and sifted through CCTV images of nearly 10,000 three-wheelers before they located the vehicle at a traffic junction near Apollo Hospital on Monday.
He was immediately detained. The police found that the autorickshaw belonged to Srikanth. He was a fan of Rajanikanth and had pasted a sticker of the actor on the vehicle.
He even gave himself the alias Rajanikanth.
During questioning, Srikanth claimed that he was in an affair with Nirmala for six months.
He said that he had stabbed Nirmala for her gold on May 28.
He claimed he went to her house at about 7 pm on May 28 and spent time there. When she went to sleep, he stabbed her 15 times in the neck with a button knife while sitting on her chest so that she couldn’t escape. He then pulled off her gold chain and four bangles. He cut her ears to retrieve her ear rings.
He told the police he searched for valuables in the cupboard and stole Rs 2,000 from her purse. He then set fire to Nirmala’s body after placing some papers on it. He opened the gas cylinder valve to make it appear as an accident.
Three teams led by Balajinagar circle inspector and sub-inspector investigated the case under the supervision of Nellore Town Deputy SP N.B.M. Murali Krishna and apprehended Srikanth.
