'Vaibhav' MD Grandhi Manoj murdered
Visakhapatnam: Managing director of Vaibhav Empire, a well known jewellery showroom in the city, Grandhi Manoj Kumar has been murdered in Bengaluru.
He has been missing since the morning of February 7 from Bengaluru, an hour before he was to board a flight to Mumbai. The body was recovered near Tumkur, about 300 km from Bengaluru city.
Reconstructing the entire incident, Manoj's close associate and his business partner Kankatala Mallik told reporters here on Thursday evening that Manoj landed in Benguluru on February 6 and checked into ITC Gardenia in the morning and at about 10 am he visited a jewellery exhibition.
At 4.30 pm, he met the local jewellery merchants and discussed his plans to open a showroom in the city. He returned to the room at 10.30 pm to rest for the day.
The following day, he was to board the Kingfisher flight to Mumbai at 7.10 am. He woke up at 4 am and took the taxi to the airport at 4.30 am. But before going to the airport, he visited Jaynagar area where he was planning to open a showroom.
'All along he hired the taxi from a private company Car Zone and used the same driver Ravi Kumar.
Little did Manoj suspect that Ravi Kumar had been listening to his conversation he had with the merchants and the merchandise he was carrying,' Mallik said. After visiting Jayanagar area, Manoj went missing.
The showroom in Vizag was told that Manoj missed his appointment with Mumbai jewellers which was to take place at 10 am on February 7. The driver instead of taking Manoj to the airport from Jayanagar changed direction and stopped the car on the way.
When inquired, Ravi Kumar told him that the back tyre was punctured and needed replacement. While the conversation was going on two more persons Krishna Goud and Siva Kumar entered the car and pinned down Manoj Kumar to the floor.
They took the car towards Tumkur area and on the way gagged Manoj with a towel and strangled him to death with another towel. Later they shifted the body into another car and the taxi proceeded towards the airport.
Ravi Kumar and his associates threw the body from the ghat road and took away three bags containing jewellery worth Rs 3 crore.
A high-level meeting was convened by the Karnataka Chief Minister attended by the Home Minister and the DGP and an 80 member police team was formed to track Manoj.
Since Ravi Kumar was the only person to unravel the mysterious disappearance, the police grilled him all day after which he confessed to the murder. Jewellery worth Rs 2 crore was recovered from the house of Krishna Goud in Mandia district. 'None of the three had criminal record.
It was valuables which motivated them to resort to the gruesome killing of Manoj,' Mallik said. He said the body would be flown to Vizag on Friday and kept at the Vaibhav Empire before cremation.
It was not decided whether the body would be cremated at his native place Eluru or Visakhapatnam, Mallik said.
News Posted: 10 February, 2012
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