Miryalaguda killer surfaces in Bihar

​Nalgonda: Ringing down the curtain on the investigation into the honour killing of a Dalit youth Perumalla Pranay in Miryalaguda on September 14, the police have arrested seven persons, including Accused No. 1 Tiruanagri Maruthi Rao, 52, who is victim’s father-in-law. The murder which took place in broad day light hurt the collective conscience of society as Pranay was done to death because he had the temerity of marrying Amrutha Varshini who belongs to an upper caste which the girl's father, who has interests in real estate, did not like. Pranay was murdered by contract killers hired by his father-in-law.

The other arrested are: Attacker Subash Kumar alias Sharma (32) (A-2) native of Jagathsinghpur in Bihar, Mohammad Asghar Ali (40) (A-3) native of Nalgonda, Md Abdul Bari (38) (A-4) native of Malakpet in Hyderabad, Abdul Karim (49) (A-5) Congress Miryalaguda town president, Tirunagari Shravan Kumar (45) (A-6) (brother of Maruthi Rao) and Samudrala Shiva (31) driver of Maruthi Rao (A-7), native of Miryalaguda.

According to Nalgonda SP AV Ranganath, attacker Subash Kumar alias Sharma and Asghar Ali were present at the scene of offence. Maruthi Rao had hired Md Abdul Bari, who was his friend since 2011, Asghar Ali and Subhash Kumar of Bihar to kill Pranay.

Asghar Ali, who is an accused in Gujarat Home Minister Haran Pandya murder, played a key role in eliminating Pranay. Miryalaguda unit Congress working president Abdul Karim, who is Maruthi Rao's friend mediated in fixing payments to Abdul Bari and Asghar Ali.

Tirunagari Shravan and driver Shiva extended their cooperation to Maruthi Rao from time to time. Maruthi Rao was angry with Pranay for marrying his daughter in January this year and was biding his time to eliminate him.
His hatred for Pranay shot up multi-folds after watching videos of Pranay-Amrutha reception in social media when he decided to have him bumped off, the SP said.

In July, Maruthi Rao contacted Md Abdul Bari for killing his son-in-law. He demanded Rs 2.5 crore for committing the murder but the deal was finally settled for Rs 1 crore in the presence of Md Asghar Ali and Congress leader Karim.
After settling the amount, Abdul Bari chose his jail mate Subash Kumar alias Sharma of Bihar for Pranay’s execution. As part of payment, Karim had handed over Rs 15 lakh to Bari and Asghar two and half months ago. After taking the advance, Maruthi Rao had shown Pranay’s residence to Bari, Asghar and Sharma.

Implementing their plan, the trio tried to murder Pranay in the second week of August when he was picking up Amrutha from a beauty parlour located in Miryalaguda town but aborted the mission unable to identify Pranay as he was at that time accompanied by his brother. The trio also tried to murder Pranay on August 22 at his residence but in vain, SP added.

Later, Maruthi Rao passed on information well in advance about Pranay’s visit to Jyothi Hospital along with wife Amurtha for medical checkup on September 14. Subash Kumar who was hiding near Jyothi Hospital murdered Pranay by attacking him from behind with a hunting knife as he was returning home after medical checkup with Amrutha.

After confirmation of the death, Sharma fled the spot with the help of Asghar Ali, who was waiting on a scooty a few meters away from Jyothi Hospital. Both Sharma and Asghar Ali informed Bari about Pranay murder over phone. The information was conveyed to Karim and Maruthi Rao by Bari with an advice to them to go into hiding. Later, attacker Subsash Kumar went back to his native place in Bihar via Hyderabad and Bangalore. Superintendent of Police Ranganath deployed seven CIs Dhanunjay, Castro, Venu, Basha, Rajashekar Reddy and Shiva to investigate Pranay's murder under the supervision of Miryalaguda DSP Srinivas.