Rajhmundary, April 16: In a shocking incident, a businessman brutally murdered his wife and three other women members of her family and later committed suicide by consuming pesticide at Tirumalayapalem village in Gokavaram mandal of East Godavari district in the early hours of Friday.
The businessman who reportedly had a property dispute with his wife, used to suspect her fidelity.
The businessman, Kotla Veera Venkata Satyanarayana (45), was found dead in a corner of the room in his mother-in-law’s house where the bodies of the four women were lying in a pool of blood.
The knife used by Satyanarayana for killing the four women was recovered by the police from the house.
The victims were identified as Varalakshmi (38), wife of Satyanarayana, his mother-in-law Matamsetti Ganga Ratnam (75), sisters-in- law Immidisetti Sita (50) of Rajanagaram and Grandhi Mangatayaru (60) of Gargalapalem.
It was suspected that Satyanarayana murdered his in-laws when they tried to prevent him from killing his wife. His sisters-in-law were staying with their mother Ganga Ratnam.
Satyanarayana was a resident of Pidatamamidi villlage of Gangavaram mandal in the agency area.
He stayed with his son Kotla Venkata Ramarao (27) in Vijayawada for a few days before coming to Tirumalayapalem.
Varalakshmi used to visit her mother frequently.
According to the police, Satyanarayana wanted to transfer the property in the name of his wife to his son.
Two days ago, Satyanarayana came to Tirumalayapalem and asked his wife to register her two-storied building at Gokavaram Kothapalli in the name of their son.
Suspecting that his wife might give the property to some others, Satyanarayana killed his wife, the police said.
According to locals, Satyanarayana came to the house of her mother-in-law around 2 am in an inebriated condition. Later, he murdered the women members of the house.
On hearing the quadruple murder, his son Rama Rao and brother-in-law Matamsetti Ramu visited Tirumalayapalem.
Incharge DSP NJ Prasad, Gokavaram inspector S Nageswara Rao and sub-inspectors of Gokavaram, Korukonda and Sitanagaram visited the village. The bodies were shifted to government hospital in Rajahmundry for autopsy.
Stamps and registration minister Thota Narasimham and Rajahmundry Urban Police District SP P Umapathi also visited the village.
–Agencies