Andhra police hunt for shooting academy coach after 3 of a family die by suicide

Amaravati, Aug 18
Andhra Pradesh police have launched a massive hunt for the coach of a shooting academy allegedly responsible for the suicide of a government employee, his wife and daughter.

Ten teams of Rajamahendravaram and Kakinada police were on the lookout for Sadikh Khan, founder and coach of the shooting academy in Kakinada.

K. Nooka Raju, working as an Assistant Engineer at the Panchayat Raj Department in Pithapuram mandal of Kakinada district, along with his wife, daughter and 10-year-old grandson Karthikya Reddy, jumped into the Godavari from the Road-cum-Rail bridge in Rajamahendravaram city on Sunday night.

The boy was rescued by the fisherfolk as he was lying unconscious on an island in the river.

The body of 61-year-old Nooka Raju was retrieved on Monday evening while the search was on for his wife Meena, 58, and daughter Sowjanya, 38.

Personnel of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), with the help of expert divers, were continuing the search operation on Tuesday.

A suicide note, believed to have been left by Raju in the car, alleged that Sadhik Khan, who runs the Pro Shooting Academy, had been harassing his daughter after the demise of her husband Jagdish Reddy recently.

In the suicide note addressed to the Kakinada District Collector and Superintendent of Police, Raju wrote that Sadhik had been behind his daughter, promising to take care of her. He had allegedly threatened to eliminate Raju and his grandson when they rejected his proposal. He had allegedly taken their valuables.

Raju wrote that their family decided to end their lives as they were unable to face the atrocities against his daughter.

Based on a statement by Raju’s grandson and the suicide letter, a case was registered against Sadhik on the charges of ‘Abetment of suicide’ under Section 108 of the BNS.

The case took a new turn on Tuesday when Soujanya’s father-in-law Bhaskar Reddy lodged a police complaint, alleging involvement of Sadhik in his son Jagdish Reddy’s death.

Bhaskar Reddy claimed that his son died after a poisonous substance was injected into him on July 2. He suspects involvement of Sadhik and another person in the alleged murder.

Bhaskar Reddy said new facts in the case came to light after he spoke to his grandson Karthikya Reddy, who was learning rifle shooting at Sadhik’s academy.

After Jagdish Reddy’s death, Sadhik had started coming to his house and tried to get closer to Soujanya.

On Bhaskar Reddy’s complaint, a case was registered at Sarpavaram police station in Kakinada.

During the investigation into the suicide case, police found a few letters from Soujanya’s car.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan spoke to Kakinada SP G. Bindu Madhav and East Godavari SP D. Narasimha Kishore and asked them to speed up the investigation.