4 convicted in NRI family murder

Hyderabad: The Nampally Criminal Court on Monday convicted four persons for the 2009 murder of an NRI family. The family of four — 40-year-old engineer K. Prasad, his wife Vijayalaxmi and their children Ketan, 15, and 10-year-old Kavita — was murdered in the RAK Royal lodge, near the Secunderabad Railway Station for monetary reasons. Incidentally, the prime accused was a relative of the victims.

K. Madhavi, her husband John Abraham, and two others namely Kiran Rathod and Pradeep Kumar, have been arrested. The First Metropolitan Sessions Judge, who examined the witnesses, pronounced the orders convicting all of them.

While John and Madhavi were sentenced to life imprisonment, Kiran and Pradeep got seven years of rigorous imprisonment. Madhavi, who was related to Vijayalaxmi, had borrowed Rs 18lakh from Prasad, the latter’s husband. An engineer working for an oil company, Prasad lived in Dubai with Vijayalaxmi and their children. Madhavi had promised to return the money, but had failed.

When Prasad started demanding that Madhavi return his money, she planned to eliminate him. She sought the help of her husband John as well as Kiran and Pradeep, two engineering students.
In August 2009, Prasad and his family members had come to India on a vacation. The family had stopped at the lodge in city before catching the return flight to Dubai.

According to cops, Madhavi came to the city to meet Prasad, but after an argument strangled Prasad and Vijayalaxmi. They then killed the kids to ensure that they had no witnesses. Later they fled with the victims’ jewellery and cash.