12 arrested in transgender’s murder case in Nellore district

Tirupati: Kodavalur police on Sunday arrested 12 accused in connection with the sensational murder case involving a transgender reported near Tapathopu in Kodavalur mandal of Nellore district on Nov 26.Divulging the case details to reporters on Sunday, Nellore SP G Krishnakanth said that M Hasini, a 33-year-old transgender, was killed by a rival group of transgenders with the help of henchmen."Hasini was emerging as a strong transgender leader in the coastal and Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, Bellary, Raichur, Dharwad, Chikmagalur and Hubli districts in Karnataka. Her main rival Alekhya couldn't digest Hasini's growing popularity within the transgenders community. As the duo fought for supremacy and resorted to various illegal activities, several cases were booked on Hasini and Alekhya at various police stations in Tirupati and Nellore districts in the past," the Nellore SP stated."As Hasini also developed enmity with two other transgenders identified as Sulochana and Sheela, Alekhya hatched a plan to eliminate Hasini with the help of henchmen. She discussed her plans with Sulochana and Alekhya and the three of them decided to go ahead with the plan to get Hasini killed and conducted a recce too," G Krishnakanth added.On Nov 26 at around 10 pm, when Hasini was returning to Kodavalur in her car after visiting a temple at Parlapalle village in Vidavalur mandal, the entire gang of henchmen waylaid Hasini near the Tapathopu railway under bridge, and hacked her to death on the spot and fled away.Special police teams formed by Nellore SP in the aftermath of the murder, arrested the 12 accused in the case near the Kovur under bridge.The accused arrested by the police were identified as E Vamsi Krishna (26), M Ramu (31), T Karthik (22), A Subramanyam (26), Shaikh Masthan Vali (23), K Venkatadri (24), K Rajesh (24), Gurunadham Narasimham (18), N Vamsi (25), U Sheela (56), R Alekhya (58) and C Bhupathi (40).The Nellore SP appreciated the efforts of Kodavalur CI A Surendra Babu and his team in arresting the key accused in the case and asserted that a few other accused who are absconding will also be arrested soon.