AMALAPURAM:The East Godavari district police have unravelled the mystery behind the suicide pact by the family of an orthopaedic surgeon here linking it to cheating by a ‘ rice pulling ’ gang.

The police said the surgeon, Dr Penmetsa Ramakrishnam Raju, was duped by the four-member gang that promised to double the money through the magical powers’ of special rice grains in their possession. The doctor gave the conmen ₹5.5 crore in instalments by borrowing money at a high interest rate from local money lenders. After Raju came to know that he was cheated, he entered into a suicide pact with his family members, the police said. One of the conmen, Varikooti Venkata Venudhara Prasad, was arrested on Tuesday. Special police teams have been formed to trace the remaining members of the gang.‘Rice pulling’ is a term used by conmen claiming that the rice grains they possess have special powers to attract or pull any object towards them. The conmen convince their prospective victims that such rice grains bring luck and are capable of increasing wealth. Raju, 55, his wife Lakshmi Devi, 45, and physician-son Krishna Sandeep, 25, committed suicide last week. They took a high dose of anaesthetic drug sucol intravenously leading to their instant death.Amalapuram DSP Shaik Masoom Basha said the arrested, Prasad hailed from Koduru village in Krishna district, but had been living in Hyderabad. Prasad along with Shawalin, Anantharam and Srinivasa Rao formed a rice pulling gang. They make their victims believe that the rice grains attract coins with images of gods, he said.East Godavari superintendent of police Nayeem Asmi told TOI that the police are searching for the other three accused by forming special teams.