Contract killer from Bihar held
HYDERABAD:A suspected Islamist terrorist, his close aide, and a local Congress leader helped prominent realtor-turned-politician Tirunagari Maruthi Rao kill his son-in-law Perumalla Pranay, a Dalit Christian at Miryalguda town in Telangana’s Nalgonda district, with the actual killing being done by a contract killer from Bihar.
Four days after the murder that horrified the state, the Telangana police on Tuesday arrested seven persons. While contract killer Subhash Sharma was arrested from Samastipur in Bihar and is being brought to Nalgonda after securing a transit warrant from the local court, the police produced the remaining six accused before the media at Nalgonda.
Nalgonda superintendent of police AV Ranganath told media that Maruthi Rao, who could not digest the fact that his daughter Amrutha Varshini (20) married a Dalit Christian, was the prime accused (A-1) in the case and was the mastermind behind the killing of Pranay.
The other accused are Congress leader Abdul Karim, Asghar Ali, Mohammad Bari, Rao’s brother Sravan and driver Shiva.
The SP said Asghar Ali, a suspected terrorist having links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was an accused in the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya. His close aide Mohammad Bari was also an accused in the same case. Both were arrested in April, 2003, but acquitted first by sessions court in Ahmedabad and later by the high court.
“While Asghar Ali lives in Nalgonda, Bari has been staying at Malakpet in Hyderabad after their acquittal in 2013,” he said.
Ranganath said Maruthi Rao had been hatching the plan to eliminate Pranay since June. “He first discussed his plan with his friend Abdul Karim and they got in touch with Bari, whom they have known since 2011. In the first week of July, Rao and Karim met Asghar Ali and Bari to work out a plan while sitting in a car at Miryalguda. Rao also showed them the residence of Pranay.”
The Ali-Bari duo first demanded Rs 2.5 crore, but finally struck the deal for Rs 1 crore.