Hyderabad: The body of Rajkumar, the prime accused in the murder of six people, including a minor girl, in Shabad of Rangareddy district, was cremated under tight police security at the Chevella cremation ground on Tuesday, July 14.
Rajkumar’s body was found on the outskirts of Penjarla village in Kothur mandal. Police suspect he died after consuming pesticide, though the exact cause of death will be confirmed after the post-mortem examination.
After the body was recovered, it was shifted to the Chevella Government Hospital for an autopsy. While Rajkumar’s parents visited the hospital to identify the body, his brother declined to do so, reportedly saying the family had lost its honour because of his actions.
None of Rajkumar’s family members came forward to perform the last rites. Consequently, municipal authorities conducted the cremation and lit the funeral pyre in the presence of police personnel to prevent any untoward incidents.
Rajkumar had been the prime accused in the recent Shabad mass murder case, in which six people, including a minor girl, were killed. Police are continuing their investigation into the case while awaiting the post-mortem report on Rajkumar’s death.
Rajkumar found dead in Kothur
Rajkumar, who allegedly killed six people, including his wife and two young sons, in Rangareddy district and was on the run since, was found dead on Monday, July 13, in Penjerla village of Kothur mandal in Rangareddy district, which is his maternal uncle’s village.
Future City Police Commissioner Tarun Joshi addressed the media shortly after the body was found, stating that the police received a 100 toll-free number call, where the caller had informed about an unidentified body lying in that village.
“We knew the clothes he was wearing and his physique when he committed the crime based on inputs, and when our clues team got there, they could identify the body belonging to the accused. A herbicide named ‘display’ was found near the body. Consuming it may have been the cause of his death,” Joshi speculated.
He said that Rajkumar first went to the house of the victim, whose family had filed a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, where he killed her grandmother and mother, then threatened the minor and drove her to his house, where he killed his wife and two sons. He then took the minor victim to a minor irrigation tank in the village located just 200 metres away from their house, where he killed her as well.
All six murders happened within a span of 30 minutes, as per reports.
Joshi also mentioned that the knives used to kill the minor were different from the ones he used to kill the other five victims. He said the sequence of events was being investigated.
He also revealed that Rajkumar had the habit of betting online, for which he maintained 16 SIM cards and used multiple cell phones, which resulted in him in incurring a debt of more than Rs 2 crore, and he was mentally disturbed by that.
Since Monday morning, July 13, reports began to emerge that Rajkumar was caught by the police after consuming a pesticide, and that he was admitted to a hospital and was undergoing treatment. All those speculations were laid to rest after his body was finally found, after the police had declared a Rs 5 lakh reward to anybody assisting in his capture.
The scene of Rajkumar’s death reveals a bottle of that pesticide that was found lying beside his body. It is still not clear if he died by suicide. However, blood coming out of his ears and nose, and broken teeth, point towards something extra-judicial.
