A rifle shooting coach has been arrested in connection with the deaths of a rural engineer and his family, including his wife and daughter. The accused has been identified as Sheikh Sadhik Khan. A suicide note was discovered by the authorities during the probe, which tied him to the events leading up to the tragedy. He was charged with extortion, murder and forcing religious conversion. He was eventually nabbed in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut following a five-state hunt. He had known the family for two years.
The victims leapt into the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh earlier this month. The tragedy unfolded on the intervening night of 16th and 17th August. A Panchayat Raj assistant engineer named Thillapudi Nookaraju (61), along with his wife Meena (58), daughter Sowjanya (38) and 10-year-old grandson, plunged into the Godavari River from the road-cum-rail bridge in Rajamahendravaram. The grandson was rescued by the fishermen after he was discovered unconscious, but the remaining three lost their lives as their bodies were recovered.
According to the suicide note that Raju had placed in the car, Khan had been harassing his daughter following the death of her husband, Jagdish Reddy. Raju stated that when they turned down Khan’s offers and took their possessions, he threatened to kill him and his grandchild.
He conveyed that the family chose to take the extreme step because they could not bear the torment committed against their daughter. Khan was charged with aiding and abetting suicide under Section 108 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita based on the confession of the 10-year-old boy and the suicide letter.
Bhaskar Reddy, Soujanya’s father-in-law, also filed a case blaming Khan for the death of his son, Jagdish Reddy. He added that his son was injected with a toxin that caused his demise. Reddy indicated that his grandson was attending Khan’s academy to learn how to shoot rifles, and he came to know about these new facts after talking to him.
Reddy added that Khan began coming to their home after Jagdish died in an attempt to become closer to Soujanya. A case was filed at the Sarpavaram police station in Kakinada in response to his complaint.
Police informed that Khan’s movements had been tracked by almost ten squads. He was taken to Andhra Pradesh under a transit warrant after appearing before a court. According to the police, Khan was avoiding using his phone and making purchases online in order to avoid being arrested. Technical evidence and human intelligence were used to track him down in Meerut, where he had sought refuge at a friend’s home.
Meanwhile, former MP Vijayasai Reddy has called for an independent probe by the CBI or NIA, suspecting a wider conspiracy. He accused Khan of being a member of a ten-person gang that engaged in extortion, gun supply, religious conversions and anti-national acts. He added that the group had targeted about fifteen other families in and around Rajamahendravaram and Kakinada.
