Four members of an NRI family were found dead under suspicious circumstances in their apartment on the fifth floor of an upscale residential complex in the VUDA colony of Midhilapuri in Madhurawada in the early hours of Thursday.
S. Bangaru Naidu, 50, his wife Nirmala, 46, and their sons Deepak, 22, and Kashyap, 19, were found dead in their apartment in Aditya Fortune Towers at 5 a.m. on Thursday. The victims died from burn injuries and asphyxiation in a fire that broke out in their home, police sources say, adding that preliminary investigations point to murder.
The neighbors said they heard shouts from the victims’ homes around 2 a.m., after which they alerted the security guards at the gate. The guards, who reportedly heard some noises, came into the apartment but left after reports reportedly considering whether or not to intervene as it was quite late at night.
Later, the neighbors saw smoke rising from the victims’ apartment and saw a fire at 4:11 a.m. and alerted the fire brigade. Soon after, a fire truck arrived at the condominium and firefighters stormed into the apartment to find that the door was locked from the inside. Then they broke open the door and entered the apartment to find Bangaru Naidu, Nirmala and Kashyap dead with stab wounds. Bangaru Naidu’s body lay on the floor near the main door, while Nirmala was found dead in the hall. Kashyap’s body was found in the bedroom.
During another search of the apartment, firefighters found the older son Deepak dead in the attached bathroom of a second bedroom. There were no signs of injury on his body and he was wearing a suit and tie. An autopsy would reveal the cause of death, said a police officer.
A detection dog team, the CLUES team and a forensic scientist visited the crime scene and examined it meticulously.
According to the police, circumstantial evidence indicated that there was an argument between the family members, which led to violent arguments. The older son is suspected of stabbing his parents and younger brother in a fit of anger. It appears that the older son set fire to the apartment to clear evidence of his crime and hid in the bathroom to avoid being burned. However, he died soon after from inhaling smoke, a police officer said.
The access of outsiders to the residential complex is severely restricted as the area is well protected and secured. Security guards manned the gate around the clock and surveillance cameras are installed around the campus.
Analysis of the CCTV footage showed that no outsiders had entered the apartment throughout the night. The last person to enter the apartment was the father himself on Wednesday at 8:56 p.m.
An investigation is ongoing, said police officers.