Two persons were arrested for allegedly murdering a photographer and stealing his expensive cameras, police said on Sunday.
According to the police, Shanmukha Teja (19) from Ravulapalem in Konaseema district got in touch with P Sai Vijay Pawankalyan (23), a photographer from Bakkannapalem area of the port city, for an assignment.
Teja informed Pawankalayan that both would work together on the 'Ravulapalem assignment' but he was actually planning to steal Pawankalyan's high-end cameras, estimated to be worth around Rs 15 lakh, Visakhapatnam Police said in a release.
On February 26, Pawankalyan took a train to Rajamahendravaram, where he was picked by Teja in a hired car and proceeded to Alamuru mandal near Ravulapalem.
Police said Pawankalyan sensed that he was in trouble and messaged a picture of the car's rear view and Teja's phone number to his mother P Ramanamma, saying that he was with strangers and if his phone didn't connect she could call Teja.
Ramanamma started worrying when she could not reach Pawankalyan on the phone, prompting her to approach P M Palem police station in Visakhapatnam and lodged a missing case.
Visakhapatnam Zone-1 Deputy Commissioner of Police Manikanta Chandolu told PTI that Teja and his friend Vinod (20) had strangled Pawankalyan to death with a leather belt and buried him on the banks of river Godavari near Alamuru.
When police landed at Teja's home on March 1 at Mulasthana Agraharam near Alamuru, he was already on the run. However, they questioned Teja's parents and confirmed the murder and also recovered the cameras hidden in a room in the house.
As Teja went incommunicado, police lured him by making a girl from Kancharapalem, with whom he was friendly, to text him and laid a trap following which Teja and Vinod were arrested.
The DCP said the police recovered Pawankalyan's body and handed it over to his parents.
Teja and Vinod have been arrested for murder under IPC Section 302, police said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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