On Tuesday, a domestic dispute turned violent and fatal in Tadipatri town in Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh. A man battered his wife and two daughters to death after an argument about financial issues.
On Wednesday morning, the police tried to pursue the accused but Ramasubba Reddy consumed poison and died.
Reddy had invited his three daughters Prasanna, Pratyusha and Pratibha to his home in Tadipatri’s Krishnapuram for a festival.
The three sisters lived in Tirupati, the oldest Prasanna was doing her Masters degree while Pratibha was in her third year of Btech and Pratyusha had finished her 12th standard.
Prasanna was unable to make it for the festival but Pratibha and Pratyusha went to their parent’s home.
Early on Tuesday morning, Reddy battered his wife and two daughters to death with an iron hammer.
Tadipatri Inspector, N. Bhaskar Reddy said, “He was under a lot of debt, and was facing financial difficulties. He wanted to sell some property that was in his wife’s name, and had asked her to transfer it to his name. He bore a grudge against her as she refused to transfer the property.”
The Inspector further added, “He was most likely sober when it happened. We suspect that he was mentally disturbed as all the three daughters also supported their mother in the domestic dispute. We also learned that he had attacked his wife once in the past, but it was not brought to the notice of the police. He may have been waiting for another opportunity.”
Reddy absconded after the murder and the police started a manhunt for him.
Prasanna, who survived the gruesome attack, rushed back to her hometown upon hearing the news of the incident.
On Wednesday morning, Prasanna received a call from an unknown person who informed her father’s body was lying on the railway tracks on the outskirts of the town.
The police suspected the accused, Reddy called his daughter himself and pretended to be someone else.
Inspector N. Bhaskar Reddy reported, “He called his daughter at 4 A.M., in the morning in an anonymous voice, and he said that his father had collapsed on the railway tracks in one particular area outside the town. We went there and searched for him across 1 km on the track, but did not find a body.”
Around 6 A.M., the police managed to catch up with Reddy and found that he had swallowed pesticide.
The police rushed Reddy who was in a critical state to Anantapur government hospital and a few hours later died.
The police have registered a case in the Tadipatri Rural police under section 174 of CrPC. The police are also working towards getting clear evidence and registered a case under IPC sections 302 and 201 for murder.
