Visakhapatnam: Three persons, including an engineering student and his mother, were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the murder of his father, a retired Army man, whose burnt body was found at a deserted place in the city nearly a fortnight ago.

The body had been found in Kallivanipalem area under Bheemili police station limits on September 14. The arrested have been identified as Chukka Peter Bhushan Kumar (21), a B.Tech student of private college, his mother Chukka Vijayamala (46), residents of Akkayyapalem, and his friend Rajyavardhan (21), resident of Allipuram in Visakhapatnam, police said.

Yeshu Babu used to stay in an apartment at Akkayyapalem with his wife Vijayamala and son Peter Bhushan Kumar. He used to harass Vijayamala to transfer her property (around 300 sq yards plot located at Chepala Timmapuram area in the city) in his name. Fed up with the constant harassment, the mother-son duo decided to kill Yeshu Babu

The police also recovered an iron rod, mobile phones and a car from them. Giving information about the crime, ADCP (Admin) A V Venkateswara Rao and Inspector of Bheemili, S Balasurya Rao, said they had recovered the burnt body at Kallivanipalem area on September 14 and based on the evidence that was found from the location the deceased was identified as Chukka Yeshu Babu (63), a retired Army man.

According to police, Yeshu Babu used to stay in an apartment at Akkayyapalem with his wife Vijayamala and son Peter Bhushan Kumar. He used to harass Vijayamala to transfer her property (around 300 sq yards plot located at Chepala Timmapuram area in the city) in his name. Fed up with the constant harassment, the mother-son duo decided to kill Yeshu Babu.

On September 9, around 10.30pm, Peter with the support of his friend Rajyavardhan murdered Yeshu Babu by beating on his head with iron rod in the apartment. Later, Peter and his friend shifted the body to Kallivanipalem in a car and set it ablaze. Next day, Peter and his mother went to the spot and once against burnt the body with petrol to hide the identity of the victim.

The trio confessed the crime and was produced before a local court on Wednesday.