A seven-month-pregnant woman was brutally murdered by her family members at a community hall in Abdullapurmet here on Thursday, since she married against their wishes four years ago, police said.
On January 4, 2014, the victim Yellanki Vijayalaxmi married their neighbour Y. Suresh against the will of her family members. Since then the couple were staying in Bhadrachalam. The couple, along with their three-year-old son, came to the city on Sunday for the final rites of Suresh’s mother Sukamma, who was killed in an accident.
On Sunday around 8.30 a.m. Vijayalaxmi’s mother Vanamma, along with her aunts and maternal grandmother, visited the former’s house on pretext of discussion and asked her to come to the community hall in the locality, police said. When Vijayalaxmi refused for further talks, the women dragged her to the hall in SC Colony, where her father, brothers, uncles and cousins were waiting. “As soon as they entered the hall, the male members of the family strangulated her to death with her saree,” said Inspector M Muni.
Though Suresh belongs to the same community, she was killed solely because she married a person of her choice against the wishes of her family members, he said. The victim also suffered bruises on her left palm.
Talking to The Hindu , Mr. Suresh said that after their marriage, they had shifted to Bhadrachalam to avoid further troubles. He is a daily wage earner. “We never came to Hyderabad after our marriage,” he said.
“Her family members killed her to take revenge on me,” Mr. Suresh said.
There were more than 12 persons in the hall, including Vijayalaxmi’s father Nasimha, brothers Lava and Shiva, cousins Praveen and Shiva Shankar, paternal uncle Ashok and Yadagiri, uncles Mysaiah and Ganesh, he said.
