Railway court convicts retd DSP for train robberies in Visakhapatnam

VISAKHAPATNAM: The judge of the Second Metropolitan Magistrate Railway Court, M Sridhar, sentenced a retired deputy superintendent of police of the armed reserve police wing, Prakruthi Appa Rao, to two years rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 1,500 for committing robberies in trains.
Appa Rao, a native of Vizag, had worked as DSP of the armed reserve wing in Nizamabad.
According to assistant public prosecutor Botcha Prameela, the police officer was caught by Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel while he was stealing a laptop and some other items in the AC coach of a train at Duvvada railway station in Vizag on October 27, 2007.
Appa Rao was arrested the same day. Twelve cases were registered against Appa Rao for stealing electronic gadgets from passengers in the trains across the state since 2006.
Suspected to be a kleptomaniac, Appa Rao allegedly also stole gadgets from important personalities like former AP speaker D Sripada Rao and then IG RP Meena, sources said.