Lalaguda cops arrest 2 gig workers for killing mason

Hyderabad: Two delivery executives were arrested on Monday for allegedly murdering a 38-year-old migrant worker from Madhya Pradesh near Rail Nilayam in Secunderabad for Rs 110 and a cell phone. They were produced before court and sent in judicial remand.

During the early hours of June 3, the Lalaguda police received a ‘Dial 100’ call regarding the body of an unidentified man lying in a pool of blood on the road near Rail Nilayam. They rushed to the spot and noticed that the man was bludgeoned to death and two blood-stained boulders were lying next to the body.

Deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Secunderabad, Rakshita Murthy formed four special teams and, in coordination with the Task Force police, tried to establish the identify of the deceased. Three days later, police received information from the family members of the victim that he was Jai Prakash Deshmukh, 38, a native of Salhe village in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. He was working as a mason in Hyderabad.

Police handed over the body to the family after the post-mortem examination at Gandhi Hospital. The family members told police that Deshmukh returned to Secunderabad on June 2 evening after completion of construction work at Kazipet. He was supposed to meet his brother at Miyapur.

However, Jai PrakashDeshmukh’s phone remained switched off after June 2 night. Based on the information, special teams verified CCTV footage from nearby areas and also contacted local informants. Based on investigation, police identified the accused as D Vinod, 30, a grocery delivery worker from Tukaramgate, and M Mohan, 19, a food delivery executive from Addagutta. They were arrested on Monday. Police also recovered the stolen phone from their possession.

The accused confessed that they spotted Jai Prakash near Monda Market and offered to drop him at the Secunderabad Railway Station. With an intention to rob him, they took him to a deserted lane near Rail Nilayam. “While the accused tried to rob him, Jai Prakash resisted. The duo attacked him on the head with boulders and stole Rs 110 cash and cell phone,” Lalaguda inspector T Ashok Kumar said.

Among the accused, Vinod has a criminal record, and he used to work with Mohan at a grocery store at Monda Market.