5 arrested in yoga teacher’s murder

Visakhapatnam: Airport police on Friday arrested five persons on Friday for their suspected involvement in last week’s brutal murder of

yoga

teacher Polamarasetti Venkata Ramana that sent shockwaves across the city.

Police said the arrested persons are contract killers and added that the prime accused - Kilaparthi Venkata Ramana - and two others are yet to be arrested. Family disputes and professional rivalry were cited as the motivation behind the murder.

The five arrested persons have been identified as G Ajay Kumar, Vykunta Rao, Dhanunjay, Anil Kumar and Prasad - all aged around 26 - and residents of Burma Colony and Kancharapalem of the city.

Ajay, the gangleader, has four cases against him at various police stations in the city. Kilaparthi is undergoing treatment at a hospital while his son K Eswar Rao is in Vietnam. Police are yet to summon him in the case.

Assistant commissioner of police (West) L Arjun said Kilaparthi eliminated Venkata Ramana as the latter was involved in an extramarital relationship with his daughter.

Police said Kilaparthi promised to pay Rs 1.5 lakh to Ajay and his gang for the murder. On the night of January 26 at around 10 pm, they took a cab to Venkata Ramana’s residence. Kilaparthi then asked Venkata Ramana to come out of the house and then assaulted him to death with iron rods, police said.