Dalit Honour Killing: Father Culprit, Says Amrutha

In the sensational honour killing of dalit youth Peramalla Pranay Kumar, 23, in broad daylight on Friday in Miryalaguda division of Nalgonda district, his wife Amrutha Varshini, 19, accused her father Maruthi Rao, a top builder, and uncle Sravan of being responsible for the murder.

The woman, who learnt of her pregnancy recently, had gone with her husband and mother-in-law Premalatha for a prenatal check-up, and saw her husband being slashed to death right in front of her eyes by hired killers as they exited the hospital.

Speaking to the media, Amrutha said that despite all efforts by the police to persuade her father and family to accept the marriage (the wedding was in January of this year after the couple eloped, and Amrutha and Pranay had been friends since childhood), her father would not let go. Pranay and she had even met the local DSP in this regard, who warned Maruthi Rao to lay off.

Amrutha said, "My father got Pranay killed ruthlessly. My mother used to alert me about my father's plans to kill my husband, and having recces conducted for several days before the murder. My father used to know our movements every day through his mercenaries. When I informed my mother about my pregnancy, while my mother used to ask me to care of my health, my father used to ask me to get the pregnancy terminated. After Pranay's murder, I rang up my father saying someone had hacked him to death. He just kept mum. When I told him that I was also attacked, he just asked me to go to a hospital. He then cut the call saying he was not able to hear me."

Weeping continuously, Amrutha said that her father had assumed that she would return home after the death of Pranay, and so got him killed. "But I will never go back to my father. Pranay was a good man. He was brutally killed for the sake of some prestige. I will stay with my in-laws and bear the child," she asserted.

Meanwhile, Pranay's father Balaswamy said that his son had married Amrutha at her insistence. He said that the two had gotten married without their knowledge, and that he had asked Amrutha's parents to take her to their home.

"My son was brutally murdered by the girl's family members," Balaswamy claimed.

Maruthi Rao and Sravan are currently on the run. District SP Ranganath said that they had speeded up investigation in the case and would catch the culprits very soon. The police registered a murder case mentioning Maruthi Rao as A-1 and his relative Sravan as A-2 following the complaint lodged by Pranay?s parents.