Vijayawada: Crime in Vijayawada has been on the rise in recent times. From the call money sex racket, to the blackmailing of a Roman Catholic church Father, the growing list of crimes is also a testimony to the deteriorating means and methods that are being employed by the criminals.

A new incident where an estranged housewife was deceived, blackmailed and abused, that was brought to light recently, is another evidence of crime, that seems to be taking hold of this city.

According to the police, a housewife who was recently estranged from her husband, had come to live with her parents in Ramalingeshwar Nagar. A TDP leader and realtor, Mandava Ravikanth lived along with his second wife Sridevi next door, while his first wife lived in Krishnalanka.

Ravikanth cast his eyes on the housewife living with her parents next door. He hatched a plan to sexually exploit her and convinced his wife Sridevi to help him with it. Sridevi befriended the housewife and according to the plan, planted a mobile phone in her neighbour's bathroom that recorded her neighbour taking a bath. Sridevi then accosted the housewife with the videos and threatened to upload them onto the internet unless she gave in to her husband.

So began the travails of the housewife, as Ravikanth began to sexually exploit her regularly. Not stopping at that, Ravikanth also revealed his sadistic streak by tying bells around her neck and made her crawl naked, on all fours.

He also exploited her financially and took away ornaments weighing 38 grams and 'borrowed' Rs. 6 lakh that was her father's retirement money. He also threatened to kill her family members by pouring acid on them, if she revealed to anyone about this.

The housewife' troubles did not seem to end there as Ravikanth planned to sell her to another man. But when she got wind of her captor's plans, she ran away and took refuge at her relative's place for a while. When her parents went looking for her, she finally poured out her gruesome tale before them.

The parents lodged a complaint on Ravikanth and his wife Sridevi at the Ajith Singh Nagar police station. After investigating the case, the police, under the leadership of A.C.P Satyanandam, on Thursday arrested the two culprits and seized the mobile phone and tablet that were in their possession.

Increasing crime, particularly in regards to money and sexual exploitation has become a challenge for the Vijayawada police in recent times. While five people were arrested in the Father blackmail case as of now, hundreds of petitions have been lodged with them in regards to the call money sex racket. It remains to be seen how the police will gear up to tackle such kind of problems, which for now, seem to go on unabated.