A food grains trader, identified as Farooq Basha, has murdered a mentally challenged Hindu man to claim insurance money of ₹50 lakhs. The incident took place on 1st April this year in Pamulapadu mandal in the Nandyal district of Andhra Pradesh.
As per a report by Deccan Chronicle, Basha had not been paying the debt of ₹1 crore that he owed to local farmers. He therefore decided to fake his death and claim insurance money.
The accused lured a mentally challenged Hindu man, identified as Setty Prathap, to his food grains warehouse in Pamulapadu mandal. After locking the victim inside the warehouse, Basha set it ablaze.
Prathap, a resident of Chelimella village, was killed in the fire. Interestingly, Basha’s family aided in engineering the murder plot and presenting it as a ‘fire mishap.’
Soon after killing the victim, Basha’s family dialled the Pamulapadu police and claimed that a fire accident had taken place in the warehouse. The police reached the spot and recovered the body of a man.
The family identified it as the dead body of Farooq Basha and the police handed over the body to them after conducting the panchnama. Basha’s family then buried the body of the mentally challenged Hindu man Setty Prathap.
Three days after the incident (4th April), the police received a complaint from a woman named Swaroopa, the victim’s wife. She informed the police that Prathap had been missing since 1st April.
The cops showed her the clothes recovered from the warehouse of Farooq Basha. Following confirmation from Swaroopa that it belonged to her missing husband, the police registered a case against Basha and his family.
According to the Deccan Chronicle, Bahsa had been hiding in Hyderabad after orchestrating the murder of the mentally challenged Hindu man to evade paying debt to the farmers and wrongfully obtaining insurance money of ₹50 lakhs.
A manhunt has been launched to arrest the perpetrator. Sub-Inspector Ashok told the newspaper, “We will reveal the full details soon.”