Sri Gowthami murder case: TDP leader among four held

TDP is facing a lot of flak in the Narsapur area of West Godavari district over the murder of Sri Gauthami particularly over a party leader’s involvement in the case.

17 months after the murder, four out of the seven suspects, including the husband of Dangeti Sri Gowthami were arrested by the police.

The suspects - TDP leader Sajja Veera Venkata Satyanarayana alias Bujji, Balam Pratap (Narsapuram ZPTC member), Andrew and Bollampalli Ram Prasad alias Ramesh have been detained while three others - Sandeep, Durga Prasad and K Lakshman (driver) are still absconding.

According to the police, Satyanarayana married Sri Gowthami a few years ago. It was his second marriage and soon differences cropped up between the couple. The police stated that the accused planned to eliminate his wife with the help of Ram Prasad, who was holding a grudge against Gowthami’s sister Pavani after she rejected his proposal.

The duo planned to kill the sisters. A four-wheeler and the driver was hired from Visakhapatnam by Andrew to kill the two women and portray the murder as an accident.

Sri Gowthami and Pavani who were heading to Narsapuram were hit by the four-wheeler driver on January 18 last year. They were later dragged into the roadside canal on Palakol-Narsapuram Road. Both women sustained critical injuries in the incident and Gowthami succumbed to her injuries. A case was registered initially under Section 304 (a) IPC (Causing death by negligence). However, upon investigation, the police altered it to Sections 302 (Murder), 120 (Criminal Conspiracy) and 307 IPC (Attempt to Murder).

The police have launched a hunt to nab the remaining accused in the case.