There is no direct link between the robbery at Siddipet in February, the murder of a realtor by his cousin at Trimulgherry two months earlier and the twin murders near Ibrahimpatnam on Tuesday.
But all the three grave crimes involved usage of firearms. While the Rachakonda police are yet to ascertain with what type of firearms the accused shot dead real estate businessman Srinivas Reddy and his acquaintance Raghavender Reddy, the accused in the other two offences used country-made short firearms.
In the murder for gain reported at Trimulgherry in December last, the prime accused Narender Reddy secured two country-made pistols from Madhya Pradesh through a middleman for ₹ 30,000. Investigators said the accused even test fired the pistol in the dead of a night at a secluded place near Alwal tank.
Having conspired to eliminate his cousin Vijaybhaskar Reddy, the accused reportedly met with an agent Ramkumar of Burhanpur in MP State. He struck a deal to purchase two weapons and secured them.
In the robbery of ₹ 43 lakh near Sub-Registrar office in Siddipet at gunpoint, the accused admitted to the police that they secured two firearms from Madhya Pradesh. “One was of 9 mm calibre and the other that of 7.65,” the Siddipet police said.
The motive behind the two crimes was different but the accused secured the weapons from Madhya Pradesh.
The killers used a firearm reportedly of 7.65 mm calibre in the twin murders committed near Ibrahimpatnam in Rachakonda police commissionerate. “Appears the attackers used country-made weapons but this has to be ascertained,” the investigators said.
