Telangana Crime: POCSO Accused Dead

The man who was on the run for two days after killing six persons, including his wife, two young sons and three members of the family that had filed a POCSO case against him, was found dead on Monday.

The body of B. Rajkumar, 29, was found at Penjerla in Kothur mandal of Rangareddy district near Hyderabad.

Locals found the body in a real estate venture and alerted the police. Police rushed there and identified the deceased as Rajkumar.

He is suspected to have died by suicide as a bottle of poison was found nearby.

Future City Police Commissioner Tarun Joshi and other senior officials rushed to the site.

Police shifted the body for postmortem examination and launched an investigation.

A massive manhunt was on for Rajkumar, who committed the murders in two separate attacks at Daivalaguda in Shabad mandal of Rangareddy district on the night of July 10.

Future City Police had also announced a reward of Rs 2 lakh for anyone providing information leading to the arrest of the accused.

According to police, Rajkumar allegedly committed the murders within two hours at two locations about six kilometres apart before calling his father at around 11.50 p.m. and informing him of the killings and his intention to die by suicide.

Rajkumar’s father went to the Shabad police station and informed the police about his son’s alleged confession.

The accused killed the minor girl, her mother and her maternal grandmother. He also murdered his wife, Sarita and two sons, aged four and one-and-a-half years. According to police, Rajkumar allegedly used a knife to stab all six victims before slitting their throats.

The police investigation revealed that Rajkumar began the killings from a house on Kummariguda Road, Shabad, where the 17-year-old girl who had accused him in the POCSO case lived with her family.

According to police, Rajkumar allegedly killed the girl’s mother, Lakshmi, and maternal grandmother, Rukkama, before taking the minor girl away. He murdered her in Daivalaguda village, about 6 km away.

Raj Kumar, with his parents, was the neighbour of the minor girl for many years until he moved away about six months ago with his wife and two sons.

The accused was booked in May under Sections 11 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act after he allegedly stalked and sexually harassed the minor girl.

He had secured anticipatory bail last month. Police suspect the killings were an act of revenge over the criminal case.

Following public outrage over the killings, Shabad police sub-inspector T. Ramesh, who was the investigating officer in the POCSO case, was suspended.

The minor girl’s family alleged that the SI failed to arrest the accused despite his threats to harm the minor and her mother.