Village secretary in Atmakur (M) mandal in the district, Suraneni Kalyan Rao, whose five-year-old daughter was allegedly killed by his wife’s friend in Ghatkesar last week, was found dead on the rail track on Saturday.
The 37-year-old man jumped before an unknown train at around 2.10 p.m. Mutilated and dismembered, the victim died instantly, the Government Railway Police (GRP) posted at Bhongir railway station said.
Although there were no eyewitnesses, locals said the incident was first reported by children playing on the road along the railway line, to their parents, and further communicated to the Station Manager. According to them, there was no train around the time of the incident, and it was suspected to be a locomotive engine.
Family sources told The Hindu that Kalyan Rao, post the incident on July 2 at his Ghatkesar residence, has been staying with his two brothers, one lab technician and another a businessman, who live in Kisan Nagar here in the town. “He stopped attending office. Most of the time he remained silent in thoughts, and was sad that he lost his daughter and his wife too, was being questioned,” a family member said.
On Saturday, it was the ninth day of Aadhya’s passing and there were a few rites to be observed. However, Kalyan Rao left home at around 9.40 a.m., and did not return. Along with residents of Kisan Nagar, a nearby colony from the railway station limits, the family members learned about the incident at around 2.30 p.m.
According to a complaint filed by Kalyan Rao at Ghatkesar police station, on July 2 around noontime when he was at office, Karunakar, a friend of his wife Anusha, had knocked the door of their house at Ismailkhanguda in Ghatkesar. On seeing the master bedroom’s washroom locked, he suspected Anusha’s intimacy with another Rajashekar. However, to save the situation, Anusha pushed Karunakar into the children’s bedroom, where Aadhya was playing, and bolted the door. After repeated warnings from inside, Karunakar, who was carrying a surgical blade to attack Rajashekar, cut the baby’s throat. Later at a nearby private hospital, she was declared ‘dead on arrival’.
At the Bhongir GRP station, Officer Kantha Rao said a case was opened for investigation. Remains of the victim were sent to Bhongir Area Hospital for post-mortem on Sunday.
(Suicide prevention helpline, Roshni: 040-66202000 or 66661117)
