The Mokila police of Cyberabad arrested two journalists and a Home Guard from Hyderabad for the death of a man who was found dead after killing his three sons at a construction site earlier this month. Police said that they threatened to publish news against the man and demanded ₹10 lakh from him.
Mokila police Inspector B. Veera Babu said that the man, 32-year-old Ravi Kumar, resided with his three sons after his estranged wife, Sri Latha, was at her mother’s place.
“Ravi invested in a pyramid scheme named ‘GSN Money Circulation scheme’ through one Thirupathi Rao and also made some area locals join it as part of the process. After receiving some returns initially, the scheme stopped paying them. Meanwhile, the couple had a fallout after the area residents started harassing him and his family for their return investments,” explained the official.
While he was being pressured to return their money, the locals shared the same with some media persons. “However, they started threatening him with a news report against him if he does not pay them ₹10 lakh. While he ended up paying them ₹2.5 lakh, a home guard, Aluri Raju, had taken away the documents of a function hall Ravi was constructing,” added the official.
The accused were identified as 29-year-old Siripuram Srinivas Reddy, a reporter with Vartha newspaper, 32-year-old Sanike Praveen Kumar, a reporter with Sakshi newspaper and 48-year-old Aluri Raju alias Nagaraj, the home guard from Shankarpally village. Police also named three more journalists, Mangali Srinivas from ABN, Kurma Srinivas from Eenadu and Vadde Mahesh from Namaste Telangana and others as part of the gang which was threatening him.
Allegedly upset over the situation and constant pressure from the locals and the journalists, he first strangled three of their sons, 6-year-old Uday Kiran, 11-year-old Mohit Kumar, and 13-year-old Sai Kiran to death, and hanged himself in the shed near their residence in Mokila during the early hours of March 4.
During the course of investigation, evidence from the witnesses were collected and the journalists and the home guard were arrested on Wednesday.
