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25-year-old Telangana man, four others arrested for killing six of family to attain assets
A 25-year-old man and his four accomplices have been arrested for killing six people of a family in a span of two weeks allegedly to usurp their property
A 25-year-old man and his four accomplices have been arrested for killing six people of a family in a span of two weeks allegedly to usurp their property, in Kamareddy district of Telangana, police said on Tuesday.
“The accused – Medidha Prasanth (25) from Makloor village of Nizamabad district was arrested at Gandhari Crossroads at around 4.30 am on Tuesday, while he was travelling in a car along with four other accomplices – Gugloth Vishnu (19), Banoth Vamsi (19), Medidha Vaddamma (60) and a minor boy, all from the same village,” Kamareddy district superintendent of police Sindhu Sharma told reporters.
“The victims, identified as Pune Prasad (36), Pune Sanvika (29), Pune Sravani (23), Pune Chaithrik (8) and Pune Chaitrika (8), Pune Swapna (26), were also from Makloor village but were staying at Palwancha village for the last one year,” the SP added.
The arrested were booked under sections 302 (murder), 364 (abduction with an intention for murder), 201 (destruction of evidence) and 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code. “They would be produced before the court for judicial remand later in the day,” he said.
Disclosing the details of the killings, the SP said Prasad was a close friend of key accused Medidha Prasanth. In 2018, a case was registered against Prasad by the local police in connection with the death of a woman under sections 354-D (stalking) and 306 (abetment of suicide). “However, even before the police registered the case, Prasad left for Dubai in search of employment. He had sent ₹3.50 lakh to Prasanth to handle the case filed against him,”
On his return from Dubai in October 2022, the police arrested Prasad and sent him to judicial remand. A few days later, he came out on bail and moved to Palwancha village along with his mother, wife, two children and two sisters.
Subsequently, Prasad asked Prasanth to return his money, but the latter kept on dodging the same. As he was in a financial crisis, Prasad thought of mortgaging his house worth ₹25 lakh at Makloor village. “He could not succeed in either mortgaging the house or selling it because of the pending case against him,” the SP said.
Taking advantage of Prasad’s financial compulsions, Prasanth offered to help him in selling the house and got the house transferred to his name in May 2023, but did not pay any money to Prasad. “When Prasad started putting pressure on Prasanth to pay him the money repeatedly, the latter conspired to kill his friend and usurp the property. His friends Banothu Vamsi and Guglothu Vishnu agreed to help him for a monetary consideration of ₹60,000,” the SP said.
On November 29, Prasanth and two friends took Prasad in a hired car to a secluded forest area near Madanapalli village, killed him by smashing his head with stones and sticks and buried the body deep in the forest area.
On December 1, Prasanth came to the victims’ residence and took his wife Sanvika and sister Sravani in a car to Nizamabad. While keeping Sravani at a place in Nizamabad town, the accused took Sravani to another secluded place near Basar bridge on Godavari river, where he killed her by strangling her with a rope and then pushed the body into the river. “The accused returned to Nizamabad, took Sanvika towards Vadiyaram village of Chegunta block, where they killed her in a similar fashion and set her body ablaze close to the Nizamabad-Nagpur highway (NH-44),” Sharma said.
The next day, Prasanth returned to Palwancha village and took the remaining family members of Prasad – mother Sushila, sister Swapna and his two children – Chaitrika and Chaitrik to a private hotel in Nizamabad town.
On December 4, Prasanth along with his juvenile brother took the two children of Prasad to Soan bridge over Godavari river, a few km from Nizamabad town and strangulated them to death. He stuffed the bodies of the kids in a gunny bag and threw them into the river. “Prasanth returned to the hotel and convinced Prasad’s mother and sister Swapna saying that the entire family was safe at a separate village and promised to take them to the family a week later. Prasanth’s mother Vaddamma was also there in the hotel to give them company,” he said.
On December 13, Prasanth and his other accomplices took Swapna in another car to Bhoompalli village of Kamareddy district, where they killed her in a similar fashion by strangling her with a rope and setting afire her body on the road side.
The Kamareddy police, who were tipped off by the locals about the burning of the unknown woman’s body in the early hours of December 14, started probing the case. “Special teams were formed to identify the body and nab the accused,” Sharma said.
Meanwhile, Prasanth planned to kill Prasad’s mother Sushila, the only survivor in the family, so that there would be nobody to complain about the family and nobody would be able to question him if he usurped their property. “But, Sushila grew suspicious about Prasanth, as there was no communication from any of her family members. Late on Monday night, she managed to escape from the hotel. In the early hours of Tuesday, Prasanth and others tried to track her down and were apprehended by the police,” the SP said.
During interrogation, Prasanth and others confessed to the crime. “We have seized a car, a bike, documents of the registered property, ₹30,000 in cash, two cans of petrol and a rope,” the SP added.
