‘Psycho Samba’ fever grips Andhra Pradesh

A search operation involving hundreds of policemen from three different districts of Andhra Pradesh to nab an elusive psycho-killer might sound very filmi. But Rachakonda Sambasiva Rao (35) alias Psycho Samba, who allegedly committed nearly 100 crimes including murder and molestation of several women, is giving sleepless nights to the police ever since he escaped from their custody a week ago.

With no substantial information on his movements, the police teams belonging to Vijayawada police commissionerate, Krishna, Guntur urban and rural and Khammam districts are on the hunt for the pscho-killer who is instilling fear in the people of these districts.

Psycho Samba was first taken into custody by the Mangalagirti police of Guntur district on July 11. He had managed to give them the slip near a fort in the Kondapally reserve forest about 18 km from Vijayawada the very next day (July 12), when he was brought to Kondapally to identify the place where he had hidden stolen jewellery.

Sambasiva, who reportedly has complete idea about the Kondapally forest terrain, seems to have escaped from the police custody on the pretext of showing them the stolen jewellery hidden near the fort for recovery.

The Guntur urban police with the help of Vijayawada city police and Krishna district police conducted a combing operation in the Kondapally reserve forest spread in 30,000 acres for five days, but they could not catch him. However, when they came to know about a person with similar features of Psycho Samba at Chundrugonda in the neighbouring Khammam on July 16, they shifted their focus to Khammam district. However, they also decided to maintain vigil at all entrances leading to the Kondapally forest area.

A senior police official, who is monitoring the search operations, has confirmed the presence of Psycho Samba in Chundrugonda. “According to the information gathered from the locals, it could be Sambasiva Rao,” he said.

A police officer from Guntur said, “Samba who is a school dropout from Prattipadu town of Guntur district is mentally disturbed but not insane. He was a hyperactive child and had made several attempts to sexually harass his teachers, neighbourhood girls and his own cousins when he was young. The police believe that he must have had a disturbed childhood.”

Though Sambasiva had committed several crimes across 10 districts, including murder of women, over a period of one year, the police say that they do not have information on his entire crime career as no complaints were lodged in many cases. They could register cases against him only in connection with the murder of a woman in Guntur district and other theft cases. It is said that the Guntur police have sent special teams to the places where he had committed the crimes earlier suspecting that he might be taking shelter at those places.

Guntur urban SP A Ravi Krishna exuded confidence in apprehending Sambasiva soon but refused to divulge the information on the search operation which is going on notwithstanding the inclement weather in the forest.