While D. Avanthi Reddy was in the process of beginning her newly-married life at a rented house in Gachibowli, 15 km away in Chandanagar, her parents and maternal uncle were conspiring to eliminate her husband, for close to a month.
Gachibowli police, who remanded to judicial custody the 14 accused in Chinta Yoga Hemanth Kumar’s kidnap and murder case, said Ms. Avanthi’s maternal uncle Yugandhar Reddy was at centre of the conspiracy. “Since the day she eloped and got married, her parents and other relatives felt humiliated. They were upset over her decision to marry a person from another caste with low productive status,” a senior officer associated with the probe said.
Every day, Ms. Avanthi’s parents, D. Laxma Reddy and Archana, would cry over the marriage. “Unable to see them in such a state, Yugandhar came up with the idea to kill Hemanth and bring Avanthi back to their house. He proposed the idea to her parents, who agreed and paid an advance amount of ₹1 lakh to execute the murder,” he said.
The cup of sorrow in Hemanth’s family has been overflowing since his murder. Hemanth’s brother Chinta Sumanth Kumar, who arrived from the UK on Saturday, said, “Anna used to keep me posted about his relationship with Avanthi. I was really happy for him, as he finally got married to the love of his life.”
Ms. Avanthi bemoaned her parents and relatives will be set free in a few years, but her husband will never return. Hemanth’s mother Chinta Lakshmi Rani said her son was killed only because of their lower financial status. “Though we belong to an upper caste, they thought we were not up to their financial status,” she said, wailing.