Man kills wife, mother and child

Hyderabad: In a gruesome incident, a man killed his wife, mother and daughter at Sainagar Colony in Balapur, under Pahadishareef police station when they were asleep around 4.30 am on Friday. He later tried to commit suicide by jumping into a well.

Somireddy Ram Reddy, 42, also tried to kill his elder daughter, Pratyusha who escaped and saved herself by locking herself in the bathroom. According to the Pahadishareef police, Ram Reddy jumped into a well, but was rescued by neighbours who initially mistook that he was trying to kill himself and pleaded him to come out of well. Later, it was found that he was hiding inside.

The truth came to the fore when Pratyusha revealed that her father killed her mother, grandmother and sister brutally in front of her eyes one by one. “When accused father Balwanth Reddy went out for a morning walk at around 4.25 am, Somireddy picked up a knife and attacked his mother Subhadramma, 60, and wife Radhika, 35, who were asleep in different bedrooms.

Later, he attacked his younger daughter Akshaya, 11, with the knife,” ACP (Shamsabad) R Sudershan said, adding that the three died on the spot. "On seeing all three being murdered in front of her eyes, Pratyusha ran inside the bathroom and locked the door from inside," the ACP added.

The accused then tried to break it open, but hurried out on seeing his father returning home from the morning walk. Balwanth grew suspicious as his son was rushing out with blood-stained clothes and hands. The old man entered inside only to see three of his family members lying in a pool of blood dead.

“Daddy used to behave like a psychopath and used to harass mummy and grandmother often. He used to pick up quarrels on trivial issues and often threaten to put an end to all things,” the child narrated. The accused had some difference with his sibling over sharing of family properties.

"He has a land having huge market value on the outskirts but was reportedly behaving strangely following some property disputes with his sibling,” according to sources. The bodies have been sent to Osmania mortuary for an autopsy examination. A case has been registered against the accused under Section 302 (Murder) of the IPC.