Hyderabad: Three days after a 24-year-old Dalit man was killed for an inter-caste marriage, it transpired that the police had warned the main accused, T. Maruthi Rao, the father of the bride, to stay away from the couple.
They had also told P. Pranay Kumar and Amrutha Varshini to be careful.
Nalgonda superintendent of police A.V. Ranganath told this newspaper: “I had called Maruthi Rao, warned and counselled him not to harm the young couple. When they went to the DSP’s office to give an invitation card, he suggested that they be careful. It is due to police intervention that they installed CCTV cameras around Pranay’s residence.”
He said if the police had received a written complaint or even an oral petition from the couple, they would have been given protection.
Pranay’s brother Ajay said, “I never seen a psycho father like Maruthi Rao. He betrayed his own daughter. It is a pre-planned murder.” He said Maruthi Rao should stay in jail. “You should be in jail and die there, otherwise people will kill you.”
Mr Perumalla Balaswami, Pranay’s father, said he feared he would be killed because Ms Varshini was taking shelter in his house. He claimed Maruthi Rao had started life as a trader in Miryalaguda and got involved in land grabbing. During the course of settlements, he allegedly made contacts with hired killers.
