Tractor thief lands in Karimnagar police net

Karimnagar: Sleuths of the Central Crime Station (CCS) in Karimnagar arrested a most-wanted inter-state tractor lifter and seized two tractors, one trolley and four water tankers apart from Rs 20,000 from his possession here on Wednesday.

According to Commissioner of Police V B Kamalasan Reddy, the accused identified as Kothapalli Raju alias Banothu Raju (40), resident of Kondapur village of Mustabad mandal in Rajanna Siricilla district, was involved in various cases of lifting tractors for the past 13 years in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

A few days ago, K Raju lifted two water tankers under Karimnagar Two Town police station. On receiving complaints, the police started investigation. During the vehicle checking at Padmanagar Bypass Road in Karimnagar on Wednesday, the police arrested Raju who was going by the road on a water tanker.

Raju has been involved in various tractor lifting cases since 2005 in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh States. He was absconding from then by changing his name and place every time he lifted a tractor. More than 100 cases of tractor lifting were lodged against Raju.

He used to sell the tractors to people in Andhra Pradesh which were stolen in Telangana and the tractors stolen in Andhra Pradesh to the people in Telangana. The police had been searching for him for many years and during the vehicle check at Padmanagar Bypass Road, Raju had been caught by the CCS police. The police seized two tractors, one trolley and four water tankers from his possession apart from Rs 20,000 cash.