HYDERABAD: The police on Monday arrested the employer of a domestic help who died by suicide at his apartment building in Lanco Hills on August 12, on charges of abetting her suicide.
The accused was identified as Purnachandra Rao, who, the police said, was having an extramarital affair with the help, identified as Bindu Sri, who was in his employ for around seven years, before he got married.
On the day of the incident, Rao and Bindu argued till 9 pm on August 11, following which Bindu Sri died in the early hours of August 12. The police said that Rao and his wife also had regular quarrels after she found out about their relationship.
Police sources said that Rao is a Kannada actor-turned-businessman, who moved to the city 10 years ago and started a home theatre business. He had allegedly lured Bindu on the pretext of getting her a chance as a heroine in the Kannada film industry and collected Rs 12 lakhs from her father.
The police said that three years ago, Bindu had borrowed Rs 3 lakh from Rao and asked him not to tell her parents about it. She also offered to work without monthly pay, in lieu of the loan, until it was settled.
They said that six days ago, a young girl from Visakhapatnam was hired to take care of household chores, following which Rao came to know that Bindu Sri had decided to quit. He is alleged to have pressured and blackmailed her into working for him till she repaid a loan of Rs 3 lakh he had given over three years back.
Bindu’s father Krishna and brother Kiran said that Rao had visited their residence in East Godavari around seven years ago to hire Bindu and had promised to ensure her well-being.
They said that upon learning about Bindu’s death, they went to the apartment, but were barred from entering the place by the security.
“Before hiring my sister, Purnachandar Rao and his family, on the reference of another domestic help, had come to our house in East Godavari, met our parents and assured that they would take care of us,” Kiran said.
Kiran said that he was informed by a relative that Rao had given a loan of Rs 3 lakh three years ago and was harassing her to return the amount. “She couldn’t inform us about it. We had fixed her marriage with an acquaintance and she was supposed to quit the job. We do not know what exactly transpired on that day that instigated my sister to end her life,” Kiran said.
“Rao refused to release Bindu Sri and was making her work for free for the past three years and blackmailing her by threatening to disclose their relationship and the Rs 3 lakh loan,” a police source said.
