Telangana MLA's son arrested over businessman family's suicide

Hyderabad, Jan 6:  With pressure mounting from the opposition parties for action, the son of a legislator from the ruling TRS in Telangana was arrested on Thursday in a case relating to the suicide of a businessman, his wife and their two daughters.

Vanama Raghavender Rao, son of legislator Vanama Venkateswara Rao, was arrested from Hyderabad and was later taken to Kothagudem.

The arrest came hours after Kothagudem MLA Venkateswara Rao issued a statement that in view of the allegations against his son, he was ready to make him surrender.

Opposition Congress, BJP and others had earlier slammed the government for trying to shield the accused. They had questioned the delay in arresting the accused while he continued to send video messages to the media from an undisclosed location.

Raghavender Rao is facing serious allegations in the case, which rocked the Badradri Kothagudem district three days ago.

The case took a new twist after a selfie video recorded by the businessman before taking the extreme step surfaced.

In it, the deceased, M. Naga Ramakrishna, levelled serious allegations against the MLA's son.

Naga Ramakrishna (45), his wife Sri Lakshmi (40) and their daughter Sahitya (12) died, while another daughter was injured when they set themselves afire under a suicide pact at their home in Paloncha on January 3. Sahitya's twin sister Sahiti succumbed to her injuries on January 5 while undergoing treatment at a local hospital.

The police had recovered a suicide note by Ramakrishna, in which he had named his mother Suryavati, his sister K. Lova Madhavi and Raghavender Rao as persons responsible for his family's death.

According to the police, the businessman wrote that they were taking this step as injustice was done to them due to an affair between his sister and Raghavender. Ramakrishna also mentioned about problem with his mother and sister of sharing property to clear his debts of about Rs 30 lakh.

Based on the suicide note, the police had booked the trio for abetting the suicides. Raghavender, who went into hiding, released video messages to the media denying any involvement in the case. The MLA's son said he had only advised Ramakrishna to take care of his mother.

However, the case took a new turn with police recovering a selfie video by Ramakrishna which he had recorded before the suicide. The mobile phone, containing the video, was found in his car parked in front of his mother's house.

In the video, the businessman alleged that Raghavender had asked him to bring his wife to Hyderabad. He said Raghavender tried to use his political and money power to satisfy his carnal desire.

"If I go alone, he will not spare my wife and children. Hence, I am taking them with me," Ramakrishna said in the video.