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Abdul Bari, one of the convicts in the Pranay murder case, died in custody on Thursday, September 24, reportedly after suffering chest pain. Bari, who was lodged at Cherlapally jail in Hyderabad, was rushed to Gandhi Hospital, where he died while undergoing treatment.
Bari was accused number four in the case. He was convicted for facilitating the murder of Pranay. A resident of Pyarasabhag Colony in Nalgonda, Bari was serving a life sentence. A Nalgonda court in March 2025 sentenced Bari and five other accused to life imprisonment, while contract killer Subash Kumar Sharma was awarded the death penalty.
Pranay Kumar Perumalla, a 24-year-old Dalit man from the Mala community, was hacked to death in broad daylight on September 14, 2018, outside a private hospital in Miryalaguda, shortly after he married Amrutha Varshini against her family's wishes.
Pranay had gone to Jyothi Hospital with Amrutha, who was five months pregnant at the time, for a routine pregnancy check-up. His mother was also with them.
CCTV footage from the hospital had captured the attack. As Pranay, Amrutha and his mother were leaving the hospital, a man approached him from behind with a machete and attacked him. Pranay fell after the first blow, and the attacker struck him again before fleeing. Pranay died at the spot.
The attack, carried out in front of his pregnant wife and mother, triggered widespread outrage and turned the case into one of Telangana's most prominent cases of caste violence. Dalit organisations, activists and students protested against the killing, with Pranay becoming a symbol of violence against inter-caste couples.
Pranay and Amrutha had married in January 2018 despite opposition from her family. Pranay belonged to the Mala community, a Scheduled Caste, while Amrutha belonged to the Vaishya community. Amrutha had alleged that her family opposed the marriage because of caste and that her father had threatened her over the relationship. The murder was orchestrated by Amrutha’s father Maruthi Rao.
According to the police chargesheet, Maruthi Rao contacted Abdul Bari through Abdul Kareem. Bari and one Asghar Ali helped arrange the contract killing, with the deal eventually settled at Rs 1 crore.
