A police officer of Telangana probing two sensational murder cases and who had gone 'missing', was traced to Andhra Pradesh on Saturday.
M. Venkateswarlu, circle inspector at II town police station in Nalgonda, was found in Bapatla town of Guntur district in the neighbouring state.
Inspector General of Police Stephen Ravindra told the media that the inspector was safe and a police team had left for Bapatla to bring him back.
Venkateswarlu disappeared after leaving his weapon and official mobile phone at the police station on Friday. His personal mobile phone was also switched off and the efforts of senior officials to reach him proved futile.
The police officer was probing two sensational cases, including the murder of the husband of Nalgonda municipal body chairperson Boddupally Lakshmi of the opposition Congress.
Bodupally Srinivas was murdered by few people near his residence on the night of January 24. He was a close follower of former minister and Congress legislator Komatireddy Venkatreddy.
The town was rocked by another brutal murder on January 29. The decapitated head of a 25-year-old P. Ramesh was found kept on the wall of a roadside religious structure. Police later recovered the torso from another place.
Reports had claimed that Venkateswarlu told his close associates that he was under pressure from his seniors on the one side and politicians on the other. A senior police officer had said that the inspector may be facing some personal problems.
However, he dispelled the rumours on Saturday, telling The Hindu that he wanted to take a break from his tiring schedule.
“The situation was such, even if requested no higher officer would sanction leave. I had not slept for nearly six consecutive nights,” he was quoted as saying.
Speaking to reporters later, he said that he had completed all formalities in the investigation of both murder cases and submitted his revolver before he went to Bapatla. He also added that there was no such pressure on him from politicians or senior police officers.
IANS inputs