Srinivas Reddy, a Telangana man who was awarded the death penalty after a special court found him guilty of raping and killing three minors and burying their bodies, has challenged the verdict in the High Court in Hyderabad.
A bench comprising Chief Justice RS Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy admitted Srinivas' plea and issued notices to the respondents and the First Additional District and Sessions Judge Court in Nalgonda, seeking a confirmation on its order from last month.
The court also appointed T Niranjan Reddy as amicus curiae in the case. It will come up for hearing soon.
Srinivas Reddy was arrested in April last year for sexual assault and murder of a 14-year girl who had gone missing. Her body was found dumped in an abandoned well, near his farm. The investigation revealed that he had earlier committed two similar crimes and dumped the victims’ bodies in two dried-up wells.
According to police, a 11-year-old was the first victim of Srinivas. On April 22, 2015, the girl was on the way to Mysireddypally from her maternal aunt's house in Hajipur. The accused followed her and kidnapped her on the pretext of offering a lift, before he sexually assaulted her and threw the body into a well.
Police said that this was his modus operandi.
In the second case on March 7, 2019, he kidnapped a 17-year girl after offering her a lift on his bike. On April 25, 2019, the accused used the same modus operandi and gave a lift to a 14-year girl, whose body was also found in a well.
According to the police, Srinivas Reddy was also involved in the rape and murder of a woman in Kurnool town of Andhra Pradesh in 2016.
Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat had earlier said that the chargesheets in the three cases were filed in three months. The court pronounced the order after examining 101 witnesses.
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IANS inputs