Sathyanarayana allegedly began killing in 2020, luring victims by promising hidden treasures, which he said he would obtain by black magic.
Published Dec 13, 2023 | 1:03 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 13, 2023 | 1:14 AM
The accused arrested by Nagarkurnool Police in a Pressmeet
The Telangana police brought down the curtains on possibly 11 murder cases when they arrested Ramati Sathyanarayana, a 47-year-old resident of Indranagar Colony in the Nagarkurnool district of the state on Tuesday, 12 December.
However, what tumbled out in the process — especially the modus operandi of the accused — could give any thriller writer a run for their money!
The police said Sathyanarayana has at least eight cases registered against him across Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, and has been active since 2020.
Given what the police said, Sathyanarayana was a con man and a serial killer rolled into one. He had been residing in Nagarkurnool town for several years, and was in the real-estate business, said the cops.
He was also known to practice a form of alternative medicine — known locally as naatu vaidyam — and was in the habit of embarking on treasure hunts with the help of herbs.
He used to conduct these treasure hunts around Nagarkurnool, Kollapur, and the surrounding districts, said the police, adding that he kept his real-estate associates and other acquaintances informed about his practices.
The cops said he used to lure his victims with the promise of hidden treasure. That is also where the conning is said to have come in.
Andhra Pradesh in general and the Nagarkurnool district in particular seemed to be his favourite hunting ground.
He had one case registered against him at the Nagarkurnool Police Station — for killing one person — in 2021. Another case at the same police station in 2022 saw him booked under Section 302 of the IPC for killing a different individual. A third case in the district — again for killing an individual — was registered this year at the Kalwakurthy Police Station.
However, the most number of victims seemed to be in the Wanaparthy district of the state, where a case from 2020 — registered at the Revally Police Station — accused him of murdering four individuals.
The last of the cases in Telangana saw him booked under Section 174 of the CrPC at the Kollapur Police Station for the death of one person.
Besides these, he was booked earlier this year in a case at the Balaganoor Police Station in Karnataka State for the murder of one person, as well as in a case at the Peddavadugur Police Station of the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh State, again for the death of a single individual.
The police said Sathyanarayana used to demand money — and sometimes even property, including plots of land — to perform the “pooja” to locate or obtain what he said was hidden treasure.
The payment — whether in cash or kind — included his “fee” for performing the rituals as well as the cost of the materials used in them, said the cops.
Once he had his victims hooked, he would lure them to a secluded spot, subdue them with acid or poison, and bash their heads in with heavy objects, Sub-Inspector (SI) P Mahender of the Nagarkurnool Police Station told South First.
The most recent case against Sathyanarayana, registered earlier this month, was again in the Nagarkurnool district of Telangana.
It was during the investigation of this case — where the victim was Govula Venkatesh, a 32-year-old from the Bollaram village in the Wanapathy district — that he was arrested.
The SI said the police, while interrogating Sathyanarayana, found his behaviour to be suspicious. He revealed under continued pressure that he had committed 11 murders, said Mahender.
The police seized from him five cell phones belonging to deceased persons and eight cell phones along with 10 SIM cards.
They also seized a silver-coloured Maruti Swift car, boxes and bottles containing toxic substances, and electrical detonators from him.
In her complaint to the police, Venkatesh’s wife Govula Laxmi said he told her when leaving home on 3 December that he was going to meet Sathyanarayana at Nagarkurnool, but didn’t return after five days.
During this time, Sathyanarayana feigned ignorance about Venkatesh’s whereabouts, she said. This led her to lodge a police complaint.
The probe he conducted would reveal that Venkatesh and his friends apparently approached Sathyanarayana to find hidden treasure in Kolhapur, to which he agreed and asked for money.
Going by their agreed-upon procedure, Sathyanarayana reportedly contacted Venkatesh later and asked him to place certain herbs at the place where he believed the hidden treasure was.
After this was done four to five times, Sathyanarayana allegedly told Venkatesh that the human sacrifice — the slaughtering of three pregnant women — was needed.
This apparently gave Venkatesh cold feet, and he tried to back out of the deal, asking for his money to be returned. That was when Sathyanarayana allegedly planned to kill him.
The police said Sathyanarayana called Venkatesh to visit him in Nagarkurnool on 3 December, adding that he had found another way to locate the treasure, and also told him to switch off his phone.
Once Venkatesh arrived, Sathyanarayana allegedly fed him some toxic liquid from a milkweed plant in the name of a ritual, which rendered him unconscious.
Sathyanarayana then reportedly dumped Venkatesh outside a village, pouring acid over his body and into his mouth till he died. He then allegedly hid Venkatesh’s belongings in nearby bushes and returned to Nagarkurnool.
Investigating Venkatesh’s murder based on the case registered after his police complaint, the police arrested Sathyanarayana and linked him to the deaths of 10 other people across three states.
