The sensational case of serial murders of six members of a family in Telangana has been solved with the arrest of five accused, including a juvenile, police said on Tuesday.
Main accused Prashanth, 30, along with two hired men, killed his friend, his wife, two children, and two sisters in a pre-planned manner to grab his property worth Rs 25 lakh.
The murders were committed in a span of 15 days in Medak, Nirmal, Kamareddy and Nizamabad districts.
Since the main accused was close to the family, he trapped them one after the other with false information.
The main accused’s juvenile brother and mother are also among the accused arrested by police.
Kamareddy district Superintendent of Police Sindhu Sharma revealed the details of the sensational case at a news conference on Tuesday.
Prashanth and Prasad, 33, residents of Makloor village in Nizamabad district, were childhood friends. In 2018, a case was registered against Prasad after a woman committed suicide after he recorded her video and circulated it. He had subsequently gone abroad for a job and returned home in 2022.
The SP said Prashanth, who had lent Prasad Rs.3.5 lakh for going to Gulf, demanded his money back.
Prasad wanted to mortgage his property to repay the loan. Prashanth offered to help him in the process and convinced him to transfer the house in his name.
As Prashanth was facing a social boycott in Makloor village for being responsible for the suicide of a woman, he, along with the family, shifted to Palwancha village in Machareddy mandal of Kamareddy district.
Prashanth wanted to sell Prasad’s property and take away the money. Realising that this is not possible if Prasad and his family members were alive, Prashanth hatched a plan to eliminate them.
On November 29, Prashanth murdered Prasad with the help of Vamshi and Vishnu, whom he had promised to give Rs.60,000.
As per their confession, they took the victim to a forest near Makloor, attacked him with stones and sticks, and buried his body.
Fearing that Prasad’s family may lodge a missing complaint with the police, Prashanth told his family members that since a case was registered against Prasad, he was hiding at some place.
On December 1, the accused took a rented car and brought Prasad’s wife Shanvika, 30, and sister Shravani, 24, to Nizamabad with the promise to arrange a meeting with Prasad.
After checking into a lodge in Nizamabad, they took Shanvika to Basar after convincing her that she would be meeting her husband.
After reaching Basar, they strangled her and threw her off the bridge into Godavari River.
After returning to Nizamabad, they took Shravani to Wadiaram in Medak district with the promise to facilitate a meeting with her brother. They took her to a deserted place and after killing her by strangulation, poured petrol on the body and burnt it.
The main accused then went to Prasad’s house on December 4 and convinced the family that Prasad, his wife, and sister all are staying in Nizamabad. He also convinced them to send Prasad’s twin children with him to meet their father.
Prashanth, his two accomplices and his brother, a juvenile, took the seven-year-old Chaitrik and Chaitrika to Mendora in Nizamabad district and after killing them, threw their bodies off a bridge.
Prashanth then brought Prasad’s mother Susheela and another sister Swapna, 27, to Nizamabad.
He also brought his mother to the lodge where the two women were staying and convinced them to follow his directions to meet Prasad.
On December 13, the accused took Swapna to an isolated place and murdered her. They poured petrol and set the body afire.
The next morning, police from the Sadasiv Nagar police station found the burnt body, registered a case, and took up the investigation.
The police examined CCTV footage in the area and narrowed down on the accused.
Police also linked up this case with the body of an unidentified woman found in Medak district, and bodies of two children found under limits of Mendora police station.
When the accused were picked up and questioned by the police, they confessed to the crime and when grilled further, they revealed all the details of how they executed the murder plot.
The SP said the body of Prasad will be exhumed while the search was on for the body of his wife who was murdered and thrown off Basar bridge.
The police seized a car, a bike, 5 cell phones, Rs.30,000 cash and land registration documents from the accused.
Sharma appreciated the police personnel who cracked the entire case with meticulous effort to identify each accused and by linking up different cases.