New Delhi: Days after a couple in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district allegedly killed their two daughters by hitting and stabbing them with dumbbells and a trishool, the husband-wife duo has been arrested and remanded to 14-day judicial custody. The couple is accused of killing their daughters allegedly to appease supernatural forces.
The daughters were killed on Sunday and the police have been questioning the couple for the last two days to find out the actual reason for the murders. According to their neighbours, the couple allegedly used to perform some strange pujas at their residence and a similar ritual took place even on the night of the murders.
Earlier, the couple V Padmaja and V Purushotham Naidu, told police that they believed they had special powers and it would help them revive their dead daughters.
Purushotham is an associate professor of Chemistry from Government Degree College in Madanapalle, while Padmaja is a Gold Medallist in MSc Mathematics, and is also the correspondent of Masterminds IIT Talent School in Chitoor.
The deceased have been identified as Alekya (27) who was a post-graduate student of the Indian Institute of Forest Management and Sai Divya (22) who was a BBA graduate pursuing a career in music, police said
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Ravimanohar Achari said,”Purushottam and Padmaja were extremely superstitious and appeared to have practiced some occult rituals and also seemed to have psychological issues. It seems like the whole family was involved in some extreme religious belief. The deaths are a result of this.”
On Sunday night, both the parents stabbed younger daughter Sai Divya with a trident, after performing rituals in the house. Later they kept a copper vessel in the mouth of elder daughter Alekhya and hit her with a dumbbell that claimed her life,” the DSP said.
The killings came to light after Purushottam had called up one of his colleagues and told him about what happened after which the police were informed. The police said that there appeared to be no other conspiracy in these murders, except for the blind beliefs of the parents. The police have detained the parents and legal formalities are underway.