Elusive "Jack, the Ripper" nabbed at last

Umesh Reddy was involved recently in three cases of rape and murder, including that of Jayashree, a widow. He struck again at another house on Sunday. Acting on a tip-off, city police beefed up their vigil. Their hunch paid off when Umesh Reddy entered the house of Sheeba on the pretext of inquiring about an address and threatened her with a knife. When Sheeba raised an alarm, Umesh Reddy tried to escape. He was apprehended in a joint effort by the public, police and Hoysala patrol team.

Umesh Reddy (30), from Basappa Malige in Chitradurga district, wasserving in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Kashmir. He applied for District Armed Reserve (DAR) in Chitradurga. Before leaving for Karnataka, he raped the daughter of the CRPF commandant and escaped from Kashmir.

While serving in DAR at Chitradurga, he raped two girls, including Rupa. When he tried to rape a high school girl, she escaped by hitting Umesh with a brick and later identified him in the Republic Day Parade. During interrogation, Umesh Reddy confessed to kidnapping, raping and murdering Rupa. He escaped from Bellary jail, while being handed over to the Jail authorities by the DAR police.

After escaping from Bellary jail, Umesh Reddy rented a house in the city and was involved in two similar cases in Mysore and five in the city. He was arrested by the police on July 7, while trying to steal some women’s under garments. But he escaped within 24 hours.

When the city and state police tightened their noose around Umesh Reddy, he went to Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Baroda and continued withhis operation. When Mumbai police began to chase him, Umesh returned to the city and hired a room in Madavara village near Peenya. Before leaving Baroda, he robbed the house of Shah, threatened his daughters and decamped with Rs one lakh and a Maruti car.

A psychopath, Umesh had strange habits. He used to attack houses where women stayed alone. He would hold victims at knife point, tie their hands, rape them, kill them and then rob the houses. Umesh also collected the undergarments of women and enjoyed wearing them.

The police recovered cash, gold jewellery and electronic gadgets valued at over Rs 5.5 lakh from him.