Visakhapatnam: The VII additional district court in Vijayawada on Friday sentenced two persons to life imprisonment for killing 10 people by giving them cyanide-laced prasadam. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 each on the convicts, Vellanki Simhadri alias Shiva and Shaik Aminullah alias Babu.The AP police in November 2019 arrested Simhadri, a native of Eluru, and Aminullah, a native of Vijayawada, for murdering 10 people over a period of 20 months by giving them cyanide-laced prasadam. The victims were from East Godavari, West Godavari and Krishna districts and they were murdered between Feb 2018 and Oct 2019.The investigation revealed that Simhadri turned to crime after incurring losses in real estate business. He convinced his potential clients that he had mystical powers and promised to help them double their valuables – gold, silver, and cash.Simhadri would collect their valuables with a promise of giving them rice pulling coins, a coin believed to bring prosperity. He would then offer them cyanide-laced prasadam. Cyanide was used to kill the victims as no significant changes were observed in the bodies, making the death appear natural.The murders came to light after the suspicious death of K Nagaraju, a government teacher in Eluru in Oct 2019. He left his house with valuables to deposit in the bank. Simhadri had deceived him into paying some cash in exchange for a coin believed to bring prosperity. After the autopsy, Nagaraju’s relatives raised doubts over the death. During interrogation, Simhadri confessed to the crime.The investigation further revealed that Simhadri, with the support of Aminullah, who runs a nickel-coating workshop in Vijayawada and supplied cyanide to Simhadri, killed 10 people.
