Archives for March 2019

Nasheman News :  Three more persons, including Telugu film comedian Surya Prasad, were arrested on Thursday in the murder case of Florida-based NRI businessman Chigurupati Jayaram, police said.

Besides Prasad, the police also took Kishore and Anji Reddy into custody.

Deputy Commissioner of Police A.R. Srinivas told reporters that they have almost completed the investigations into the case.

He said the investigations revealed that Jayaram’s niece Shikha Chowdary had no role in the murder.

According to police, main accused Rakesh Reddy had hatched a conspiracy to extort money from Jayaram. Surya Prasad and Kishore brought Jayaram to his house in posh Jubilee Hills and it was here that the businessman was murdered. Anji Reddy reached Rakesh Reddy’s house after the murder but did not inform police.

On allegations that Rakesh Reddy spoke to couple of police officers after the murder, the DCP said they were conducting investigations.

He said while Rakesh Reddy had relations with politicians but there was no evidence of any political involvement in the crime.

The body of Jayaram, 55, who was director of Coastal Bank, was found on the back seat of his car off the national highway near Nandiagama close to Vijayawada on January 31.

Jayaram, also a Managing Director of Express TV, a now defunct Telugu channel, had come to Hyderabad from the US a few days earlier.

The crime was first investigated by the Andhra Pradesh Police, which arrested Rakesh Reddy and his security guard. The case was later transferred to Telangana after it was revealed that Jayaram was murdered at a house in Hyderabad and his body was dumped in Andhra Pradesh.

Jayaram’s wife Padmashri has also demanded a probe against Shikha, who was allegedly in a relationship with Rakesh Reddy.

She had said that after the murder, Shikha barged into their house in Jubilee Hills and that some key documents and valuables were found missing subsequently.

Nasheman News :  At least 40 people were killed when gunmen said to be whites opened indiscriminate fire at two mosques in Christchurch city on Friday in what Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described as “one of New Zealand’s darkest days”.

The shootings took place at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Masjid, The New Zealand Herald reported.

One gunman, believed to be Australian, filmed as he shot victims in the mosque – and wrote a manifesto declaring his intentions, saying that “it is a terrorist attack”, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said.

He said there were also multiple improvised explosive devices attached to vehicles as part of the attack.

“This goes to the seriousness of the situation,” Bush said.

The Bangladesh cricket team now touring New Zealand had a narrow escape as the entire team had gone to one of the mosques near Hagley Park for Friday prayers.

Player Tamim Iqbal tweeted that the “entire team got saved from active shooters”.

Bangladesh Cricket Board spokesman Jalal Yunus said most of the team had gone to the mosque by bus and were about to go inside when the incident took place.

Authorities immediately called off the New Zealand-Bangladesh third Test match that was set to be played in Christchurch.

Prime Minister Ardern confirmed the fatalities and described the killings as “extreme and unprecedented violence”. Police reported that four people — three men and a woman — had been arrested for the killings. 

“We are not aware of other people but we cannot assume there are not others at large,” Bush told the media here.

The government advised people not to go to mosques until further notice. All Christchurch schools were hurriedly shut down.

One man, Robert Weatherhead, told Newstalk that he took in people who escaped from the Al Noor mosque.

He described the gunman as “white, aged in his 30s or 40s and wearing a uniform”, but he could not make out what the uniform was.

Another witness, who was in the front row of devotees when the gunman came in, told The New Zealand Herald that the suspect first shot people outside, adding that he heard the gun being reloaded about three times.

“The gunman began shooting in all directions,” the witness said.

A woman told the Christchurch Star she lay in her car near the mosque as four to five men came running towards her.