A man was brutally murdered near K. Santhapalem village under K. Kotapadu Police Station limits in the district on Wednesday.
A Nageswara Rao (26), a resident of K. Santhapalem, was running a fast food centre in the village. He was found in a pool of blood, with his head smashed, at a private housing layout.
Chodavaram CI S. Kiran Kumar said that Nageswara Rao had received a phone call around 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday while he was busy in the centre. He went out on his motorcycle and didn’t return home. Some passers-by who noticed the body on Thursday morning, alerted the police. The police said that the victim was beaten on his head with iron rods, killing him on the spot. The parents and relatives of the victim said that Nageswara Rao owned a small house in Poorna Market area in the city and had a quarrel with the tenant as the latter was refusing to vacate his house. They suspected involvement of the tenant in the murder. The police are examining the mobile call data of the victim to track down the accused. The body was shifted to a Government Hospital for post-mortem.