Police had a tough time saving the
nine-year-old child of a woman Umesh Reddy had raped and murdered
Police had a tough time saving the nine-year-old child of a woman Umesh Reddy had raped and murdered
Umesh Reddy, whose death sentence the high court endorsed yesterday, gave the police a hard time after he escaped from custody in 2002.
"Our main concern was to protect Suresh, the nine-year-old who was the sole eye witness in a rape and murder case," said Abdul Azeem, then an inspector at Peenya and now an MLC.
Umesh Reddy had allegedly raped and murdered a woman while her son watched helplessly.
"We feared Umesh knew about the eyewitness and wanted to eliminate him to wipe out the evidence," Azeem said.
Reddy'su00a0 arrestUmesh Reddy was arrested in 2002 when an informant saw him getting a hair cut near the Yeshwanthpura police station.
A team of police led by then inspector Nyamagouda rushed to the spot and caught him.
His arrest was a big relief across the state, Azeem said.
Maniac had an underwear fetish>>Umesh Reddy was booked in 21 cases of rape and murder.
>>He got a death sentence for the rape and murder of Jayashree Maradisubbaiah in February 1998 in Peenya.
>>A former cop from Hiriyur of Chitradurga taluk, Umesh Reddy was sacked from service after he was arrested for the rape and murder of a KEB engineer's daughter.
>>The CoD investigated the case and filed a chargesheet, but he was acquitted.
>>Soon after, he raped and murdered several women, including some prostitutes.
>>Umesh Reddy used to collect the undergarments of his victims.
>>"Peenya was gripped by fear after the 1998 murder," recalled Azeem. "And he was feared elsewhere too."
