Couple wanted in 11 cases were arrested yesterday
Couple wanted in 11 cases were arrested yesterday
The Upparpeth police have arrested Venkatesh Raju (28) and Mamata (27, his third wife) yesterday, who are wanted in more than 11 cases including four half murders and seven robberies.
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The police also recovered jewels worth Rs 7 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh in cash.
The couple has been involved in these crimes since July 2009.
Venkatesh's first wife, who he left after three months of being married to her, has also filed a case against him, alleging that he married two more women without her knowledge.
Venkatesh was working as a labourer, but wanted to make more money.
So without telling his first wife, he married again, and tried to push the second wife into prostitution.
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She strongly objected to it, and he started threatening her. Worried, the second wife left him and went to her mother's house.
Venkatesh then married Mamata, his third wife, and told her his intentions, to which she agreed (police suspect that she was involved in prostitution even before the marriage).
Mamata started soliciting at night The modus operandi was simple.
While Mamata was entertaining her customer, Venkatesh would rob the client's valuables.
Sometimes, Mamata would also blackmail clients by threatening to go to the police. The duo was making money, but Venkatesh had other plans.
The duo would pose as a high-profile couple, and started hanging around train and bus stations.
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They would take their co-passengers into confidence, and then slip a sleep-inducing drug in the victim's food. The couple would then rob them of their valuables.
To leave no traces behind, they started strangling the victims some of which are still undergoing treatment in hospitals. The couple repeated this method 10 times.
But their luck went away at the 11th time, when they to robbed a mobile phone and some jewels from Puttamma. They started using the phone, and Puttamma complained to the Upparpeth police.
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Inspector Lokeshwar and his team from Upparpeth police station cracked the case within 20 hours.
Lokeshwar told MiD Day "We have 10 cases against them, but that may increase. We have arrested the couple and will send them to judicial custody. The stolen phone helped crack the case," he added.
