A man alleged to be a contract killer, who was involved in a shootout in which three members of the affluent Gandham family were shot dead at Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh in September last year, has been arrested, police said today.
G Nageswara Rao, his son G Maraiah and nephew P Maraiah were travelling in a taxi on the busy NH-16 when their car was chased and intercepted and the three gunned down.
The contract killer, identified as Ombir alias Umesh, was arrested from Khora colony in Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier, his seven accomplices were arrested in this case by a joint team of the Delhi Police Crime Branch and Vijayawada police.
"The killers were travelling in a car and a motorcycle when they intercepted the victims' car and opened fire at them killing all three. The driver of the victims' car escaped unhurt," said a senior police officer.
A case of murder was registered at Unguturu Police Station, Vijayawada City, Andhra Pradesh.
The murders were the result of personal enmity. There existed a long-standing feud between two families. One family consisted of Butham Govindu, Butham Srinivasarao and Butham Durgarao, while the other family consisted of Gandham Nageswararao, Gandham Marayya and Gandham Pagidi Marayya.
Both the families are residents of the same village Pinakadimi, West Godawari.
On April 6, Butham Durgarao of the Butham family was shot dead in West Godawari district. He was killed by contract killers from Mumbai.
Thinking that Nageswararao family was behind Butham Durgarao's murder, Butham Govindu vowed to kill the entire Nageswararao clan and fled to London from where he masterminded the entire conspiracy, police said.
He roped in contract killers from Delhi. The police in AP contacted Delhi Police Crime Branch and a joint team was made in October last year.
The team apprehended the seven accused from Delhi. The four Delhi-based contract killers are Partap Singh (35), Dharamveer (32), Nitin (27) and Neeraj (22). The three others, who played roles of planners and conspirators, are Manjeet Singh (35), Satish Kumar (27) and Pankaj (22), police said.
They said the main conspirator was Sirigirichina Sriniwas, hailing from Peninakadimi Village in West Godawari district of Andhra Pradesh and presently living in Delhi.
He was given the contract for killing by Butham Sriniwas Rao and Butham Govindu and others for about Rs 1 crore, they said, adding Sirigirichinna Srinivas contacted Ombir Singh for executing the contract.
Ombir Singh along with his accomplices Pankaj, Satish and Manjeet Singh planned the criminal conspiracy along with Sirigiri Chinnasriniwas, police said.
