Andhra police say they have cracked the sensational murder of 55-year-old NRI businessman Chigurupati Jayaram. Jayaram allegedly owed Rs 6 crore to a realtor called Rakesh Reddy, and since he defaulted on the loan, Rakesh Reddy and an accomplice allegedly tortured him until he died. The police have arrested Rakesh Reddy and a man called Srinivas, who allegedly helped shift his body to the car.
Police said that Jayaram, a resident of Florida, USA, had borrowed Rs 4.5 crore from Rakesh Reddy, and the debt shot up to Rs 6 crore including interest. Reddy gave him the money against Jayaram’s property, however, he later learned that the property was taken on a loan.
When Reddy repeatedly demanded money, Jayaram allegedly blocked his number. Reddy then contacted people who would know Jayaram’s whereabouts; one of them, the manager of a villa that belongs to Jayaram’s niece Shika Chaudary, alerted Reddy when Jayaram visited her on January 29.
Reddy then bought a new SIM card, and messaged Jayaram, posing as a woman named Reena. ‘Reena’ asked Jayaram to come over to a house in Jubilee Hills, and when Jayaram arrived, Reddy allegedly locked him up and tortured him. Though Jayaram claimed that he didn’t have any money, Reddy called his old colleagues and asked them to repay the debt.
"One old colleague paid Rs 6 lakh on January 30 at Hotel Daspalla," the Krishna district SP Sarvashresth Tripathi said, "On January 30, when they were physically assaulting him, they pressed his head against sofa, which led to his death."
Police also arrested the watchman, Srinivas who was an accomplice to the murder. According to the police, Srinivas helped in shifting the body to the car.
"To make the death look like a car accident and not raise any suspicion, as Jayaram had planned, they took his body to Vijayawada and left it there," the SP said.
Jayaram was found dead in the back seat of his car in a farmland near Aitavaram village off the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway in Krishna district, on January 31. There were blood stains on his body.
Initially a case under section 302 (punishment for murder) was booked, later the sections were changed to 419 (punishment for cheating), 342 (wrongful confinement), 346 (wrongful confinement in secret), 348 (wrongful confinement for extortion), 384 (punishment for extortion), 201 (intentional omission to give information of offence), and 202 IPC (intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform).
Police said that they are examining further CCTV footages and also the role of the person, who took the money from Hotel Daspalla in the murder.