KURNOOL: A pregnant woman, along with her two children, was allegedly burnt to death at Pandlapuram village under Nandivargam police station limits in the early hours of Thursday. The deceased were identified as Putta Venkatalakshmamma (35), Pavan Kumar (13) and Pavani (9). According to police, the woman’s husband with the help of his parents and brother strangled them to death and later burnt their bodies.

Nandivargam SI Hariprasad said that auto driver P Sivaramaiah married Venkatalakshmamma 15 years ago. The couple has two children and Venkatalakshmamma was six months pregnant before she was murdered.

Sivaramaiah, along with his parents, had been harassing his wife for additional dowry. On Wednesday night, the couple had a quarrel. In a fit of rage, Sivaramaiah with the help of his parents and brother killed his wife and two kids and later burnt their bodies around 2.30 am on Thursday. 

After committing the crime, Sivaramaiah fled the spot. On receipt of information, Nandivargam police rushed to the spot.  The Nandivargam police registered a case under Section 498 A, Section 302 read with Section 34 of IPC. The police arrested Sivaramaiah’s parents and his brother, and launched a manhunt to nab the main accused.