India: Mother batters two daughters to death in Andhra Pradesh believing they will come back to life

Hyderabad: In a horrifying incident, a mother bludgeoned her two daughters in their 20s allegedly at the advice of a tantric priest or black magician. This happened even as their father watched the grisly act in silence.

The shocking incident occurred in Ankieshettypalle village of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday night.

Police reached the scene of the incident after a tip off. The police identified the victims as 27-year-old Alekhya and 22-year-old Sai Divya. Police said after the double murder, the girls’ father informed his colleague over phone about the incident, who in turn alerted the police.

Religious rituals

Police have taken both the parents into custody and recovered a trident and a dumbbell used to kill the two girls.

Police officials said they would send the parents for medical examination to ascertain their mental condition. While the mother, V. Padmaja, a gold medalist in MSC (mathematics) works as principal and correspondent at Masterminds IIT Talent School, the father, V. Purushottam Naidu, is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Women’s Government Degree College at Madanapalle, police said.

The battered and bloodied bodies of the two girls lying in a pool of blood were moved to the government hospital at Madanapalle. Police found several tell-tale marks of religious rituals in the house suggesting that the double murder was related to some superstitious beliefs. The heads of the girls were half tonsured and there were marks of vermillion on them. There were small silver pots in their mouths. Police say the two girls were naked when they were killed but were later draped in red sarees.

‘Highly educated family’

The elder sister Alekhya had completed her MBA and was working at a forest management institute in Bhopal, while the younger Sai Divya, after completing her graduation in Business Administration, was learning music at AR Rahman Music Academy in Chennai. Both the girls were on a home visit and were staying at family home where the family had moved only last year.

Hundreds of curious people gathered outside the recently built house of the family as the heinous act sent shock waves across the state. A CLUES team rushed to the town from the district headquarters of Chittoor to gather evidence of what happened on Sunday. Police also seized the photo albums showing the family together and posing with various idols and religious figures.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Ravi Manohara Chary who is supervising the probe said that the police were looking into the incident from all possible angles. “We are also going through the CCTV footage to identify all the people who visited the house over the last few days to establish the motive behind the murder”.

'Girls will be reborn'

When the police rushed to the house late last night, the parents resisted them and opposed removing the bodies saying that the “girls will come back by morning”. “The Atmas (souls) left and they were supposed to come back. But they did not. I have lost my daughters,” a hysterical Padmaja told the police later. Police officials described the condition of the mother as “delusional”.

While Padmaja insisted they she did the act on her own and nobody had advised her to do so, police were trying to find the people who visited the house for rituals over the past few days. Police believe that some one brainwashed the parents that their daughters will be reborn in “Satyug” (era of truth).

The police are also going through the social media handles of both the girls to understand what happened to them.