Hyderabad, May 27: A construction foreman who allegedly sodomised street children — and killed one of them — was arrested just when he was about to abuse his 31st victim.

Gundu Shiva, who used chocolates and nude video clips as bait in the two years he has been on the prowl, was picked up yesterday from Vijayawada, 265 km from Hyderabad.

Suspicion fell on Gundu in February while police were probing the murder of Raghava, a 14-year-old whose body was found dumped in a bush, said C.V. Anand, Vijayawada’s police commissioner. Death was caused by strangulation, but his private parts bore wounds thought to have been inflicted by a sharp object.

“Our investigations led to Gundu. He was arrested when he was about to commit sodomy on his 31st victim,” Anand said.

Gundu, a father of two, has confessed to his acts and the murder of Raghava. “I was fond of the boy (Raghava). I introduced him to pornography and nude clippings on my cellphone. Sadly, I had to kill him as he would have spilled the beans and spoilt my fun,” he is believed to have told the police.

Gundu has admitted to being a homosexual since he was 15, saying he also picked strangers for trysts in parks and bus stands. “I always paid good money to my partners, including the boys who did not speak out,” he said.

But what came as the biggest shock is the admission that Gundu did not even spare his seven-year-old son.

His wife Ranjita, who had stormed into the police station to protest his arrest, is outraged by the disclosure involving their child. She has now decided to divorce him and shift to another town.

Charged with murder and unnatural sex practices, Gundu will have to spend at least 10 years in jail if convicted.