Khammam: The crime was a year ago. The arrests came on Thursday.
Samineni Rama Rao, a CPI(M) veteran and former sarpanch of Patharlapadu village, was killed in the early hours of October 31, 2025, on the premises of his house, his throat slit and a wound to his stomach. He was 72.
Police Commissioner Sunil Dutt told a press conference that a detailed investigation based on physical and technical evidence had led to four arrests. The accused are Bodapatla Srinivasa Rao (34), a mason; Nukala Lingaiah (43), a farm worker; Mallarapu Lakshmaiah (24); and Karlapudi Uday Kumar (39), both painters. All four are residents of Teldarupalli village.
Investigators obtained court permission for polygraph examinations on 24 people whose names had emerged during the investigation, Dutt said. Six of those summoned consented, and the tests were conducted in January 2026 at the Forensic Laboratory in Bengaluru. Assessed alongside other evidence, the reports yielded relevant leads.
For reinforcement, police sought the help of experts from the National Forensic Sciences University in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. A six-member team visited Khammam and conducted a forensic analysis.
Slippers, footprint impressions, a piece of red cloth, a piece of white cloth and a knife cover were collected from the scene. Police seized two knives allegedly used in the murder.
The motive is not fully established. Police said financial and political reasons were behind the killing, and that further investigation is under way.
The CPI(M)'s Khammam district secretary, Nunna Nageswara Rao, has demanded a Special Investigation Team probe. He said the eyewitness accounts and the names mentioned by Rama Rao's wife should be examined thoroughly.
Referring to the four arrests, he alleged that attempts were being made to let the "actual perpetrators" go "scot-free".
Over the past year the incident sparked protests by the CPI(M) in Khammam over what the party described as a delay in apprehending the accused.