An e-mail that cracked twin murder

TNN / Dec 2, 2005, 02:42 IST

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An e-mail sent by Madhavi Deshpande to her daughter Manasi who stays at New Jersey in the USA enabled cops to crack the Tarnaka twin murder case.

HYDERABAD: An e-mail sent by Madhavi Deshpande to her daughter Manasi who stays at New Jersey in the USA giving the address of their new driver Raju enabled the police to crack the Tarnaka twin murder case.
Based on inputs provided by Deshpande's family, the police traced and arrested the driver Somavarapu Raju (21) and his brother-in-law P Shankar (18) on charges of killing Dr Madan Mohan Deshpande (60) and his wife Madhavi (55) at their house at Nagarjuna Colony in Tarnaka on November 25.
The accused also took away cash and valuables worth Rs 3 lakh from the house.
DCP (east) K V Rajendranath Reddy, who presented the accused before the media on Thursday, said the police worked on some leads provided by Manasi that Raju was residing at Tarnaka and picked up four car drivers who share the same name.

One among them told the police he knew the driver working in the doctor's house and showed the residence of Raju's friend in Lalaguda.
Working swiftly, the police detained Raju's friend who in turn, gave the address of Raju's house in Warangal. However, before a police team could reach Warangal Raju and Shankar left the place. But they were eventually caught at Uppal.
The DCP said they collected Raju's photograph from the regional transport authority (RTA) and used it to trace him. "We went through 3,000 driving licenses which were issued in the name of Raju and identified the accused with the help of Deshpande's brother Chandra Mohan."

"Shankar tried to escape from the custody of three police constables, but we managed to prevent him from fleeing," Additional commissioner (crimes) Rajiv Trivedi told reporters.
"The accused appear to be psychopaths and we do not know what they would do after being released from the jail," he added. Raju is a class VII dropout and Shankar is a painter.
Raju joined as a driver at the doctor's house just ten days before the murder. He was provided with accommodation also.
Trivedi said Raju hatched a plan to kill the couple and took the help of Shankar. He requested Madan Mohan to allow Shankar to stay in the house for a couple of days.
On November 25, after Raju and the doctor went to attend a patient at Vanasthalipuram, Shankar killed Madhavi by smashing her head with an iron rod and kept her body in the bedroom.
When Madan Mohan returned to the house and enquired about the blood stains, Shankar hit him with the same rod, killing him instantly. The two murders took place between 4.30 pm and 7.30 pm.
After killing the couple, both Raju and Shankar fled with the valuables after locking the door from inside.
The incident came to light after Manasi alerted her uncle Chandra Mohan on November 26 as her parents were not responding to her phone calls.
Rajendranath Reddy requested the residents to verify antecedents of their servants before employing them.
The DCP also asked the residents to submit the details of their servants at the nearest police station as a precautionary measure.
Chandra Mohan Deshpande cautioned, "Please do not trust anyone, including casual visitors and never allow any servant to stay in the house."

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