Suspected wife’s affair: AP man kills 3 kids, burns bodies; later dies by suicide in Telangana

HYDERABAD: A 36-year-old fertiliser shop owner from Andhra Pradesh died by suicide after allegedly killing his three minor children and setting their bodies on fire in Telangana's Nagarkurnool district. Based on the initial probe, police suspect marital discord could be the reason for the horrifying deaths.

The deceased have been identified as G Venkateshwarulu (36), a resident of Peddaboinapally village in AP's Prakasam district, and his children — Mokshita (8), Varshini (6) and Siva Dharma (4).

On Thursday afternoon, Telangana Police found the charred remains of the two younger children in a grove near Surya Thanda, off the Srisailam-Hyderabad highway. Later, the partially burnt body of the elder daughter was recovered 30 km away near Thanda village. Venkateshwarulu's body was found a day ago from Peddapur village in Nagarkurnool, 20 km from Thanda.


The exact cause of their deaths is under investigation, and will be known only after postmortem examination, said Vaibhav Gaikwad, Nagarkurnool SP. "The bodies of the children were completely burnt. We do not know if they were alive when they were set ablaze," he said.

Police said Venkateshwarulu left home on his bike along with the three children on the evening of Aug 30, following an altercation with his wife. Cops say he suspected his wife of having an extra-marital relationship.

Since he did not inform his wife about where he was going and also switched off his phone, she filed a missing persons report with the Yerragondapalem police (in Prakasam district) when the four did not return even after five hours. Her complaint sparked a search operation across AP and Telangana.

Investigators tracked Venkateshwarulu's movements through call records and CCTV footage, which showed him travelling towards Srisailam. The first clue came on the evening of Sept 3, when locals near Peddapur village found a man's body in the bushes and alerted police. The body was identified as Venkateshwarulu's; his bike was parked nearby. "Our team also recovered a pesticide bottle and an empty petrol can from the spot," said K Venkat Reddy, Kalwakurthy DSP.

As cops continued to scour CCTV footage, they found that Venkateshwarulu had checked into a lodge at Domalapenta near Srisailam with his three children on Aug 30, and had left the next morning around 7.30 am. About an hour later, CCTV cameras in Hajipur (Telangana), 63 km from Domalapenta, recorded him riding with all three children and a petrol can. But at Veltur, seven km ahead, only his elder daughter was seen with him.

Based on the clues obtained through CCTV footage analysis, all the bodies were traced. The body of Venkateshwarulu was handed over to his family after the PME on Wednesday. Bodies of the children are preserved at Kalwakurthy and Achampet govt hospitals for examination.

Telangana Police said they would now hand over the investigation to their AP counterparts.