A horticulturist hacked to death his mother, wife and daughter in their house at Sainagar of Balapur in old city in the early hours of Friday.
The accused, S. Ram Reddy, also tried to kill his elder daughter, Pratyusha, who saved herself by hiding in the bathroom. He later tried in vain to pass the buck to his elder brother, with whom he had disputes over sharing family properties and assets, and jumped into an agriculture well as the police chased him.
With the help of firemen, police brought him out and detained him for questioning. The macabre treble murder began around 3.45 a.m. when Reddy attacked his wife Radhika, 35, while she was asleep in the bedroom. After returning home late in the night along with husband from a function, she was fast asleep when Reddy slit her throat with a knife and stabbed her, Shamshabad ACP R. Sudarshan said. Carrying the blood-stained knife, he went to the second bedroom where his mother Subhadramma, 60, and two daughters, Pratyusha, 13, and Sai Akshara, 11, slept. “Akshara woke up and opened the door only to see his father lunging at her with the blood-stained knife. Even as she ran towards the kitchen, he chased her and slit her throat,” the ACP said.
He returned to his mother, who was screaming and crying for help, and stabbed her indiscriminately. Horrified, Pratyusha ran into washroom and bolted herself inside even as her father tried to break it open. Meanwhile, his elder brother living on the first floor came down running. While his brother shouted at him and pleaded with him to stop the ghastly act, Reddy opened the door and hurried out. His father Balwanth Reddy, who returned from morning walk, entered the house only to see three family members murdered. During interrogation, Reddy told the police that he wanted to end his life after killing all members of his family.
