More than a month after the brutal caste killing of 24-year-old Perumalla Pranay in Miryalguda, the Nalgonda police have invoked Preventive Detention Act (PD Act) against the three out of the seven accused in the case. Under the Act, a person can be detained in jail for one year without getting bail.
The Nalgonda Superintendent of Police AV Ranganath said the three accused in the murder case including Pranay’s father-in-law Thirunagari Maruthi Rao, Shravan Kumar, who is Maruthi Rao’s brother, and transport operator and local Congress leader Abdul Kareem, have been booked under the PD Act. All the accused in the case are lodged at the Warangal Central jail, the intention is to ensure the trio are detained even if they get bail, reported Times of India.
The latest development comes days after a Telangana court denied bail to Maruthi Rao and other accused in the case.
Pranay, a Dalit from the SC Mala community had married Amrutha, a woman from the Komati community (Vyshya) in January this year. However, Amrutha’s father Maruthi Rao, who had strongly opposed their marriage, allegedly hatched a plan to kill Pranay.
On 14 September, when Pranay and Amrutha, who is five months pregnant, were coming out of a private hospital in Miryalaguda following a health check-up with a gynaecologist, an unidentified assailant followed Pranay and attacked him with a machete. Pranay succumbed immediately after suffering two heavy blows to his head and neck.
After four days of investigation, the Nalgonda police arrested Maruthi Rao, Shravan, Asgar Ali, Mohammed Bari, Congress leader Abdul Karim, Shiva and Subhash Sharma, the alleged killer, was picked up from Bihar. Police identified the alleged killer Sharma based on the CCTV footage of the crime.
The police have called it a clear case of caste killing and stated that Maruthi Rao struck the deal to kill his son-in-law for Rs 1 crore.
The caste-based killing sparked widespread outrage across Telangana. Several Dalit students and activists thronged Muthireddy Kunta in Miryalaguda demanding the arrest of Maruthi Rao and his brother, Shravan, allegedly a co-conspirator in the murder.
Amrutha had alleged that her uncle had physically assaulted her for going against her family’s will. She also said that her father had threatened them with dire consequences several times. Her father had even asked her to abort her pregnancy.