This story is from September 16, 2018

Nalgonda honour killing: Three in police custody

Nalgonda honour killing: Three in police custody
HYDERABAD: Nalgonda district police have reportedly taken three people into custody in connection with the ‘honour killing’ of a 23-year-old Dalit youth, P Pranay, in Miryalaguda. Police are yet to nab the unidentified killer.
Protests were held in Miryalaguda town on Saturday demanding action against the culprits. Pranay was stabbed to death outside a private hospital on Friday while he was returning home along with wife Amruta Varshini.
Pranay took Amruta to the hospital for medical checkup as she was five months into pregnancy. Amruta, a witness to the murder, is yet to recover from shock and is in hospital. She demanded that the killer should be hanged even if he was her father.
Amruta belongs to an upper caste community and her family had opposed her marriage to a Dalit youth.
On Saturday, Amruta told media that her father T Maruti Rao and uncle Sravan Kumar were behind the murder. The police suspect that they had hired killers to murder Pranay.
According to sources, the police picked up three persons including Maruti Rao. However, Nalgonda police superintendent Ranganath said the police had not made any arrests. The police have seized CCTV footage of the hospital for analysis. The murder was captured by the CCTV cameras.
The police have beefed up security in Miryalaguda town as several Dalit organisations organised protests demanding justice to the victim’s family. SC, ST Commission chairman Srinivas visited the town and met the family members of Pranay. Maruti Rao reportedly told the police that he did not regrets his actions. He allegedly paid Rs 5 lakh in advance to the killers and promised to pay the remaining Rs 5 lakh later.
Amruta said the murder was planned and her father had been keeping a tab on her movements. She said a recce was conducted before the murder. “We expected harm from my father but did not believe that he would resort to the killing,” she said.
Amruta and Pranay married on January 30 at Arya Samaj office and since then have been living away from Amruta’s family. Pranay’s father Bala Swamy said Amruta had insisted on the marriage though her father was against the inter-caste wedding. Amruta said her father insisted that she abort the baby after he came to know of her pregnancy. “My father hails from a so-called upper caste but see his actions. Pranay, who was murdered for his lower caste, was very kind to me and would help me in all my daily chores,” Amruta said.
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