Man held for rape, murder of 3 minor girls in Telangana

Days after remains of two minor girls were unearthed, police Tuesday arrested a 28-year old man who allegedly raped and killed them and another girl and buried the bodies in abandoned irrigation wells in a village in Telangana.

M Srinivas Reddy, resident of Hajipur village in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, was arrested Tuesday following his interrogation, police said.

A lift mechanic, he had also allegedly killed a woman in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh in 2016 and was arrested a year later along with four others. He was out on bail in the case, they said.

The serial killer, a bachelor, was addicted to alchol and used to watch porn movies on his mobile phone, police said.

His involvement in the killings of the minor girls of Hajipur came to light when police questioned him after stumbling on the body of a 14-year old girl in his well during a search for her last Friday.

Investigations showed Reddy had offered her lift on April 25 when she was returning from school and took her to the well. After raping her inside the well, he had killed the girl and buried the body there itself, Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat told reporters.

He was also involved in the rape and killing of a 17-year old girl, whose skeletal remains were found in the well Monday, more than a month after she was reported missing, the Commissioner said.

Using similar modus operandi, Reddy had offered lift to the girl on March 9 and took her to an isolated place where he sexually assaulted her and later killed her before burying the body in his well, he said.

During questioning, Reddy also confessed that in April 2015 he had abducted a 11-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her and later killed her and put her body in a gunny bag and dumped it in another well in the village, Bhagwat said.

Police said efforts were on to exhume the remains of the girl.

After Reddy was detained, a section of the villagers attacked and damaged his house while trying to set it ablaze. Police dispersed the crowd, who were seething with anger on coming to know about the serial killings.