US court convicts techie from Vizag

• He killed toddler Saanvi, her grandmother in 2012
• He killed the woman in bid to kidnap the child
• He later smothered the child to death
• Faces either life imprisonment or death penalty

Washington: Montgomery County Court in the US on Friday convicted US-based software techie Yandamuri Raghunandan, hailing from Visakhapatnam, for gruesome murder of 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother Satyavathi in Upper Merion in 2012.

The court convicted Raghunandan on two counts of first degree murder. The brutal murder of toddler and her grandmother dated back to October 22, 2012. The techie, while attempting to kidnap Saanvi, slashed the throat of Satyavathi when the latter resisted him. Later, he kidnapped Saanvi and killed her also by smothering her face with a kerchief when she cried.

He stood emotionless as he heard judge passed the conviction order. He may be sentenced to either life imprisonment or awarded death penalty. Sentence will be announced later. District attorney Office and Venna’s family sought death sentence to Raghunandhan.

The 26-year-old techie had resorted to kidnap after losing heavily in gambling. The court was told that he had lost $50,000 in gambling he played in casinos in California. Apart from it, he had made transaction to the tune of $26,268 by using nine credit cards in a span of just one month, the court was told.

The police cracked the case with the help of the ransom note left by him after murdering Satyavathi and kidnapping the child. The note addressed to Saanvi’s parents Venkat Venna and Chanchu Latha demanded $50,000 ransom to free the child. He addressed the parents by their nicknames which were known to only friends. This clue enabled the police to solve the case in a short span of time. Raghunadan’s mother Padmavathi was seen crying when the court delivered the verdict.