Madanapalle Minor’s Murder Suspect Found Dead in Irrigation Tank

Tirupati:The body of Kulavardhan (27), the main suspect in the rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl in Neeruguttavaripalli of Madanapalle, has been found floating in the Kanasanivaripalli tank near Angallu of Annamayya district on Wednesday.

The body has been found a day after he allegedly escaped from police custody while being taken for questioning.

Locals spotted the body in the irrigation tank and alerted the police. Teams from Madanapalle and Mudivedu police stations retrieved the body and found it to be of the murder suspect. Police shifted the body to the Madanapalle Government Hospital for post-mortem.

District SP Dheeraj Kanubilli disclosed that preliminary post-mortem findings indicate that the death is by suicide through drowning.

According to police, the victim, a Class 2 student, had remained at home on Monday due to school holiday while her mother went to work. When the mother called in the evening to inquire about her, the minor girl’s grandfather realised she had been missing. The family searched the neighbourhood and lodged a police complaint.

During the search, suspicion fell on Kulavardhan, a powerloom worker with a prior criminal record who lived opposite the girl’s house. Police found the girl’s body concealed in a drum at his house on Tuesday. After the police arrested Kulavardhan, crowds gathered demanding that police hand him over or hang him publicly.

Police managed to take him away in their vehicle but he allegedly escaped while being taken for interrogation, prompting a search across the area, SP Dheeraj said. Subsequently, Kulavardhan’s body had been found floating in the Kanasanivaripalli tank.

Kurnool Range DIG Koya Praveen confirmed that the minor had been raped and murdered, allegedly by Kulavardhan. After medico-legal formalities, police tried to hand over Kulavardhan’s body to his family. But they refused to claim it.

With no claimants coming forward, the body has been kept in the mortuary.