Famed Doctor Held for Murdering Wife, Misleading Police

Vijayawada: Dr Macharla Lokanath Maheswar Rao (65) and his driver Prabhupada Janardhan (37) have been arrested for the sensational murder of Dr Lokanath’s wife Dr Radha in Machilipatnam town on July 25.

Krishna district superintendent of police P. Joshua said the doctor couple had been practising at the same hospital for more than 25 years. While their hospital was on the ground floor, they stayed on the second floor. The couple have two children. Both are married, managing their own lives.

Investigations following Dr Radha’s murder revealed that differences had started building up between the couple over personal and property-related issues. There had been a heated argument a few weeks before the murder. Following this, Dr Lokanath decided to kill his wife.

The husband mentally prepared his driver Janardhan into becoming his accomplice in killing Dr Radha. As part of their plan, at 5:55 pm of July 25, when Radha had been alone on the second floor, Dr Lokanath and Janardhan entered the house from the main entrance and locked it from inside. They reached the second floor.

While Janardhan caught hold of Dr Radha, her husband hit her on the head with an iron rod. When she fell, he hit her on the spinal cord. He kept hitting her with the rod till he confirmed that she had died.

Dr Lokanath and Janardhan then left the house from the back entrance.

On orders of Dr Lokanath, Janardhan sprinkled chilli powder in the house to mislead the dog squad. Later, at 10:30 pm, Dr Lokanath informed police that unidentified men had entered his house, killed his wife and fled with gold ornaments on her body.

Police registered a case and started connecting the dots. They found that Dr Lokanath and Janardhan had killed Dr Radha. Police found the gold the two had taken off from her body in a concealed chamber in the hospital.

Both Dr Lokanath and Janardhan have been remanded to custody.