Days after the Kerala Police solved the ‘serial cyanide killer’ murder mystery, the Andhra Pradesh police on Tuesday arrested a man who allegedly murdered 10 persons by giving them cyanide-laced prasadam. The suspected serial killer had been killing the victims from the last two years. The accused was identified as Vellanki Simhadri alias Shiva hailed from Eluru. He killed the victims in Krishna, East Godavari and West Godavari districts between February 2018 and October 2019. According to a news agency report, West Godavari Superintendent of Police, Navadeep Singh, claimed that they arrested the alleged serial killer from Eluru on Tuesday evening. The police investigation in the case revealed that after Simadhari began suffering losses in his real estate business, he began cheating people with claims of possessing supernatural powers. He reportedly began conning people on the pretext of hidden treasure and precious stones, promising them to double their accumulated gold. As a trap, the accused demanded money and gold from the victims and promised to give them “rice-pulling coins’- which is believed to bring prosperity. Meanwhile, after taking the money form these victims he began giving them cyanide-laced prasadam. The police officer told media outlets that the accused was using cyanide to kill his victims because no changes are observed in the bodies of the deceased and it appeared a natural death. The killings came to light while the local police were investigating a suspicious death case in Eluru last month. The deceased in this case was identified as K. Nagaraju, a government teacher. He had reportedly died in October after he had left his house with cash and jewellery to deposit them in the bank. The police officer added that Simhadri had fooled him into paying Rs 2 lakh in exchange for a coin, which is believed to bring prosperity. However, the Nagaraju’s autopsy done after the family voiced suspicion over his death. The police then arrested Simadhari in connection with the case, who later confessed the crime. Since families of at least 10 contacts in Simhadri’s mobile phone had reported suspicious deaths since last year, the police launched in-depth investigations. All victims are suspected to have died after consuming cyanide-mixed prasadam. Simhadri has been accused of killing his own grandmother and sister-in-law. However, the police have registered FIRs in four of these cases and further probe in the matter is underway.
