Andhra Pradesh Police: ‘Mentally unstable’ couple held after daughters bludgeoned to death

Neighbours in Shiva Nagar, where the family has been living for several years, said they heard screams and informed the police. “At first, they did not allow the police to enter. The body of one daughter was found near their pooja room and the other daughter was found in another room. Dr Naidu and Padmaja appeared to be mentally disturbed, extraordinarily superstitious and having serious psychological issues. They were uttering strange things and asked the police team not to touch their daughters. They claimed that they would wake up soon. Neighbours told us that the couple had been behaving oddly for weeks,” DSP (Maddanapalle) Ravi Manohara Chari said, adding, “Investigation has revealed that while the mother bludgeoned the daughters to death, Dr Naidu did not stop her and just watched.”

Dr V Purshottam Naidu is Vice-Principal of Maddanapalle Government Degree College for Women and holds an MPhil and a PhD in Chemistry. Padmaja works as a Correspondent at a private school and is a gold medallist in MSc (Maths). Their elder daughter Alekhya recently completed a diploma in Forest Management from IIFM, Bhopal and the younger, Sai Divya, completed her BBA from Bengaluru and had also pursued a course at A R Rahman’s music school.