Believed to be a case of ‘honour’ killing

A 23-year-old Dalit man was hacked to death in broad daylight, in a suspected incident of honour killing, in the Miryalaguda division of Nalgonda district, about 150 km from the State capital, here on Friday.

The victim, Peramalla Pranay Kumar, was exiting a private hospital with his mother Premalatha and wife Amrutha Varshini at 1.30 p.m., when a tall man in safari suit approached him from behind and slashed his neck twice. A 35-second hospital CCTV footage shows the victim collapsing as the women run into the hospital for help. The victim lay in a pool of blood, metres away from their car he was about to board. He died before he could be administered emergency care.

“We had gone to the hospital for Amrutha Varshini’s prenatal check up,” said an inconsolable Premalatha.

Pranay belonged to Scheduled Caste — Mala sub-group — and Amrutha, 19, was from upper class Vysya community. They were friends from their school days. The couple eloped in January and married at Arya Vysya Samaj in Hyderabad against the wishes of Amrutha’s parents. In the first week of February, the two had approached the Inspector General-Hyderabad Stepehen Raveendra seeking protection.

Subsequent counselling had helped to bring both the families together and a wedding reception was organised. But Amrutha Varshini’s father T. Maruthi Rao, a top builder in the rich and fertile Miryalaguda, continued to trouble them.

“I had warned Maruthi Rao, but we didn’t expect this extreme step. It is a classic case of honour killing,” Nalgonda Superintendent of Police A.V. Ranganath told The Hindu.

Sitting MLA N. Bhaskar Rao, a few relatives say, had also talked to the girl’s father.

“His [Maruthi Rao’s] cordial behaviour was a pretence; We feel sad that despite being aware of the problem we could not prevent it,” police said.

Teams have been sent to trace the absconding father and another accused Sravan. Police have announced a reward for information leading to their arrest.

Members from Ambedkar Jana Sangham and other voluntary groups have called for a Miryalaguda bandh on Saturday.