Doctor’s murder: Cops arrest three of a family

Kurnool: The Dhone police cracked the murder case of Dr Pocha Srikanth Reddy and arrested three persons involved in the crime. All the accused were produced before media in the presence of district superintendent of police (SP) Gopinath Jetty  here at Ved Vyas Auditorium on Tuesday.

Dr Pocha Srikanth Reddy, a resident of Poca Colony in Dhone, as brutally hacked to death on May 10. Dr Srikanth Reddy was a grandson of a noted doctor Madduri Subba Reddy.  Giving details of the case, the SP said the victim’s wife in her complaint lodged with Dhone police expressed suspicion that a property dispute or issuance of death certificate might have some to do with the murder. .

Based on the complaint, the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Ravi Prakash, Dhone sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Baba Fakruddin and circle inspector K Raja Gopal Naidu had been deployed to investigate the case. During the course of investigation, they came to know that one Murari Narashima had hatched a conspiracy to claim insurance by producing fake death certificates.

As part of the plan, he had taken insurance policies in the name of one Maddi Suresh, a fictitious person and paid premiums in the name. Later, he approached Dr Pocha Srikanth Reddy and obtained a “death certificate” of Suresh by paying Rs 2,000.

He produced the death certificate to Bajaj Alliianz Insurance company located at SV Complex in Kurnool with a claim for Rs 34 lakh and produced his wife Murari Nagarathna as Suresh’s wife. 

The SP said the insurance company representative who inquired claim found that there was no person named Suresh and the photos in the policy were of Murari Narasimha. On his report. the company denied the claim.  

However, Narasimha lodged a complaint with the consumers court.  The court summoned Dr Srikanth Reddy to appear as witness on April 16, 2018. Reddy in his witness deposition stated that he had issued the death certificate by mistake to Narasimha. With this, the court dismissed the complaint. 

Following this, Narasimha developed a grudge on Dr Srikanth Reddy and hatched a plan to eliminate him and discussed it with his son Murari Chandrasekhar and wife Murari Nagarathna. The father and son went to Srikanth’s clinic and asked him to accompany them to treat a bed-ridden patient.

Trusting their words, Srikanth Reddy followed them and after reaching their house, the duo as planned killed him. To burn the body, they dragged it into the bushes but fled from the spot on seeing police, the SP said. 

Murari Narasimha and his son Murari Chandrasekhar were arrested at Panchalingala village while they were trying to flee from Kurnool. Murari Nagarathna was also arrested for being an accomplice for the crime. All the three would be sent to jail after being producing before court. The SP lauded the investigating officers for their team spirit in cracking the case.