Psychopath techie killer on loose in AP

By U Sudhakar Reddy
The state police is on the lookout for Nalla Nagendar Reddy, a psychopathic techie killer, who has been involved in several murders in the state, Karnataka and London. Officials from Interpol and Hertfordshire, UK, have approached the Crime Investigation Department seeking his arrest and extradition.
Nagendar has escaped from the police twice in the past three years and is an accused in six murders. He attempted suicide on May 8 by slitting his wrist in the prison in Belgaum and was shifted to a hospital there, from where he escaped on May 11 after killing a policeman in the hospital.
In London, he allegedly killed and then burnt Ch. Radhakrishna for property. The 27-year-old software professional is a native of Subashnagar in Nizamabad and has many alias names such as Vishnu, Indira Kumar, Madhu Kumar, John and Mural. Sources in the police said that Nagendar Reddy allegedly murdered Chepooru Radhakrishna in England in September 2004 and later escaped to India.
Radhakrishna was repeatedly stabbed and his body was wrapped in a carpet, placed in a suitcase and transported in car to Aldenham in Hertfordshire in England. The body was burnt later by the killer and dumped at Aldenham. In the dossier submitted to the CID by the Hertfordshire police, the motive behind Radhakrishna’s murder was to gain financially from the sale of his property.
After a few days Nagendar Reddy sold his car and later sold the property belonging to Radhakrishna including a mobile telephone, laptop, a camcorder to one Waseem Bhatti, who later identified Nagendar Reddy from photographs. He left London in December 2004 and came to Hyderabad.
Handwriting analysis done by the Hertfordshire police has revealed that Nagendar Reddy was responsible for the transactions on Radhakrishna’s credit and debit card accounts. According to the police, he was involved in an automobile theft at Afzalgunj in Hyderabad in 2006.
He is also involved in a case at Victoria police station in Bengaluru. He is also involved in murders at Secunderabad and Karnataka.

Passion murders on the rise in AP

Udumula Sudhakar Reddy
17th dec 2008
Murders of young women by insecure and jealous lovers and husbands are on the rise in the state.
Extra-marital affairs and sexual jealousy are the motives for many murders but nowadays, the insecurity caused by the career growth of women are also provoking lovers to kill them.
There has also been an increase in the number of men killing their wives or girlfriends and later committing suicide.
Apart from dowry harassment related killings, at least 720 women are murdered in the state every year.
According to State Crime Records Bureau, around 641 suspicious deaths as well as suicide attempts of women occur every year. Most of them happen within seven years of marriage.
“Several such incidents have occurred in Madhapur and Rajendranagar areas where the women were earning more than their husbands or live-in partners,” said an official of Cyberabad police. “In the IT sector, women are earning really well.” On February 9, 2007, TV news reader and anchor B. Lakshmi Sujatha was killed by her boyfriend Chandrashekar alias Chandu. The incident was similar to the death of Bhargavi.
“In Vijayawada too a TV news reader was murdered in similar way,” said Mr Umapathy, inspector-general of the CID (Women Protection Cell). “Career growth of women makes male partners jealous.” “When the woman gets recognition, new people come to their lives,” said a senior police officer of DIG rank. “Their old acquaintances become burden to them. As they move up the ladder, the old male partner becomes restless and sometimes resorts to extreme steps.” Murders of women are reported mostly from Guntur, Mahbubnagar, Hyderabad and Cyberabad. There are also instances where petty quarrels lead to sudden provocation and killings.

Warangal Encounter - Cops deliver instant justice

Udumula Sudhakar Reddy
14th dec 2008
" Cops give excuse that they had fired at youth in self defence ? Most of the encounters take place between 9 pm to 4 am "
The “encounter deaths” of the three youth who were behind the acid attacks on two female engineering students in Warangal is being seen as another example of the “instant justice” meted out by a desperate police.
This time too, cops gave the excuse that they had fired at the youth in selfdefence after the latter tried to attack them. The story, as usual, is full of loopholes.
Legal experts scoff at it and say that the latest encounter deaths are another instance of cops trying to cover up their failure to act on complaints quickly and investigate cases to their logical ends. The Warangal police, under immense political and public pressure, was in a hurry to close the case diary to save their skin. Like many other encounters, the gunning down of the acid attackers also took place in the dead of night at a secluded place.
The state has witnessed several instances in which police went for “encounters” after such controversies. Statistics shows that non-Naxal encounter killings have mostly taken place in Warangal, Hyderabad, and Cyberabad (erstwhile Ranga Reddy) police commissionerates, apart from Anantapur and Kurnool. However, the senior advocate of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Mr C. Mallesh Rao, said it was not an encounter but murder by the state. “If public opinion is to punish it has to be done in accordance with law and not otherwise,” he said. “Of course, the acid attack was condemnable. But this is akin to mob justice where suspects are lynched. The state should strictly adhere to the law.” “Most of these so-called encounter killings take place in between 9 pm and 4 am and in secluded places,” said a police officer.
In Vijayawada in 2002, a murder accused K. Srinivas alias Budda Shantan was killed in an “encounter” at 2.30 am when the subinspector was reportedly interrogating him. According to the police, Santhan grabbed the sub-inspector’s revolver. In another case in Vijayawada, an SI and four policemen shot a rowdysheeter who was armed only with a knife in June 2002. In an encounter that took place in Warangal in October, two rowdy sheeters, Gaddam Jagan and A. Ratnakar, were shot dead while they allegedly tried to escape. Venu, a rowdysheeter, was killed in encounter at Neredmet in Cyberabad at night.
But the former directorgeneral of Police, Mr Pervaram Ramulu, said the police action could be seen as illegal but it could not be termed unethical.
“They are not ordinary criminals,” he said. “Vox populi is Vox dei (the voice of people is the voice of god). As people demanded, instant justice it is delivered.” A retired judge, who sought anonymity, said the duty of the police was to bring the accused to trial and prosecute them. “They have to charge-sheet the cases in time,” he said. “The charge-sheeting rate of the state is very low.” In fact, the charge-sheet rate of cases by police was only 65.34 per cent in 2007. In Hyderabad it is a low of 29.16 per cent. Several cases are pending in the courts and most of them end in acquittal. The conviction rate has also come down drastically, thanks to flawed investigations.
“This is a clear case where police acted under compulsion of public opinion,” said former IPS officer, Mr Ch Anjaneya Reddy. “The police department should able to resist this. It is not the fault of the police alone, but of the entire legal system.” “Warangal police has been involved in encounter killings for the past 35 years,” said the human rights activist, Mr G Haragopal. “First they killed Naxals and then dacoits. Now they are killing boys involved in criminal activity. This is short-circuiting judicial procedure.”

Witchcraft kills 44 in Andhra in a year

By Udumula Sudhakar Reddy

As many as 44 people were killed in connection with witchcraft and sorcery rites in the last one year.
Karimnagar, Nalgonda and Medak districts witnessed the most number of black magic murders according to the state crime records bureau.
In all, 211 cases were registered in connection with witchcraft in 2007 as against 182 in 2006 and 161 in 2005. Karimnagar topped the list with 41 cases in which eight persons were killed followed by Nalgonda, Medak, Warangal, Nizamabad and Adilabad.
In Medak district, an elderly couple who was accused of practising black magic was tied together and set ablaze.
Similarly, seven persons were killed in Adilabad, six in Nizamabad, and five each in Medak and Warangal over sorcery and witchcraft allegations.
Violent incidents linked to witchcraft were also reported from Visakhapatnam rural, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra districts (except for north Andhra) are relatively free of the menace of black magic rites.
“In many places, people suspected to be practicing black magic are tied to trees and beaten up,” said the Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), Mr A.K. Khan. “They are known as banamati or chetabadi.” In some instances, mobs have plucked the teeth of those who were branded as sorcerers. There have also been cases of mobs lynching alleged sorcerers.
“We are taking out awareness campaign in several districts against such superstitions,”said Mr Khan. “In many cases, it is an individual or a family versus the entire village. We should increase the scientific temperament of people to fight this menace.” Social activists and police blame movies and TV programmes for giving added strength to the superstitious beliefs of people.
“There shall be reasonable restrictions on films and programmes promoting black magic and witchcraft,” said the ADGP.
The AP Praja Natya Mandali has also asked the government to discourage TV serials were encouraging beliefs in sorcery

Hate communities mushroom on Orkut against YSR, Naidu, Chiru and Balakrishna

Cyber Cops warn action

By U Sudhakar Reddy
Hyderabad, June 24: More than 60 hate communities have sprouted in social networking site Orkut against superstar Chiranjeevi after he announced his political entry. Hate communities against the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, the Telugu Desam chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Telangana Rastra Samiti president, Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, and film stars Balakrishna, Nagarjuna, and Mahesh Babu are also thriving in Orkut.
The Cyber Crimes Police Station has warned that it would take action against those who run hate communities and post vulgar pictures and abusive content on VIPs and celebrities. Internet surfers seem to be enthusiastically joining the hate communities. For instance, "We Hate Chiranjeevi" group has 2,289 members and "We hate YSR" has 1,754 members. There are around 11 communities in Orkut targeting YSR, six spewing venom on Mr Naidu and five on KCR. There are 21 communities which specialise in frothing against actor Balakrishna.The photographs of several film stars and leaders have been morphed and given an obscene look by these hate communities.
"If they post obscene comments and photographs, we can book cases and track down those who run the communities with the help of the service provider," said the Inspector Mr Ravi Kumar of the Cyber Crime Police Station. He added that cases had been registered against certain persons running hate communities after complaints from individuals. "But so far no political leader or celebrities have lodged complaints," he said.
Police add that lack of awareness on cyber crimes in the country is leading to such abuse. "But the fact remains that the number of fan clubs is more than the number of hate communities," said a senior advocate, Mr Srinivas Reddy. For instance, Chiru has at least 1,000 communities supporting him. They include "Chiru the next Chief Minister" and "Join Chiru Party". The biggest community has at least 18,000 members. Earlier Shiva Sena demanded the ban on social networking site Orkut after hate communities targeted its leader Bal Thackeray. "We can write to Google and get the Internet Protocol address of those who created the hate communities," said a senior cop.

Credit card scamsters used Orkut

By U. SUDHAKAR REDDY
Hyderabad, May 18: An inter-state gang operating from Mumbai and Visakhapatnam used the social networking website Orkut to buy airline tickets with stolen credit card data.
The tickets were sold at a discount to unsuspecting buyers, mostly employees of the Vizag and Bokaro steel plants who were availing their leave travel concession.
The Hyderabad police's central crime station busted the gang following a complaint from a Hyderabad-based person who found that the gang had fraudulently used his credit card data to purchase the tickets. The police arrested one Umapathi Thakur alias Vikas Kumar alias Praveen, 22, of Jharkhand, from Visakhapatnam, saying that he was a key operative. The Mumbai-based scamsters who booked the tickets with stolen credit card data are still at large.
Umapathi’s office, Ganga Ticket Solutions, was located near the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
The scam started unravelling when one Ravinder Reddy of Kalyannagar in Dilshuknagar received an SMS from ICICI Bank on May 6 stating that he had purchased an air ticket from Kolkata to Guwahati.
Mr Reddy, who had done no such thing, immediately approached the police, who booked a complaint and began investigations.
Inspector J. Anyonya, who is investigating the case, told this newspaper: "This is a credit card fraud where details are stolen by hacking online websites or by collecting details from places where the card was used."
"Umapathi has confessed that he had done up to 60 transactions worth lakhs of rupees with the aid of other accused based in Mumbai," Mr Anyonya said. Mr Ravinder Reddy was charged about Rs 43,000 for the air tickets he didn't buy.
The police said the gang stole the credit card data including its 16-digit number, its three- or four- digit CVV (credit verification value) and expiry date.
CVV is an anti-fraud security feature to verify that the credit card is in possession of its genuine owner. The account number, CVV and expiry date are required to complete a transaction.
"The data is stolen usually at petrol pumps, shopping complexes and bars and restaurants where the customers are not alert," said a police official said. "Hackers steal the data from unsafe websites or at Internet cafes."
In this case the scamsters in Mumbai stole the credit card data and used them to buy airline tickets. Umapathi brought in the customers.
"We identified the customers who were flying with the air tickets purchased fraudulently and detained them. They revealed that they got the tickets from Umapathi's Ganga Ticket Solutions," Mr Anyonya said. "His arrest lead to the unearthing of the scam."
"Those who purchased the tickets are innocent. Umapathi used to lure them by offering them tickets at discounted rates," Mr Anyonya said. The customers are given the PNR number and an e-ticket so they do not suspect anything amiss.
The police offered the following advice to prevent credit card fraud:
At outlets where you use the credit card, watch as your card is swiped.
Avoid using credit or debit cards at cybercafes.
Don’t shop online on unprotected websites.
Never use the card on pornography sites.
If the bank offers SMS alerts for credit and debit card transactions, subscribe to it.
Make sure your credit card company has your current phone number so they can call you if they see a suspicious pattern of transactions.
Don't use a debit card over the Internet. Your credit card fraud liability is limited but debit card fraud could drain your account.
Keep track of transactions. You should remember at least the last five transactions. Also check the monthly statements.
Keep receipts and check your credit card statement against them.
Lodge a police complaint and inform the bank if you suspect fraud.