Hyderabad, April 07: A retired civil judge and his wife were found dead under suspicious circumstances at their residence at Rajendranagar today. The couple’s death, however, turned into a mystery after their son, a mentally challenged person, tried to set their bodies afire in the compound of the house without informing any one.
Though the neighbours alleged that the couple’s son might have killed his parents, police suspect that the retired magistrate might have committed suicide yesterday after the death of his wife a day before.
The couple, Hanumantha Rao (76) and Saroja (73), were residents of Bandlaguda under Rajendranagar police limits. Hanumantha Rao retired as a civil judge of Bhongir court in Nalgonda district 15 years ago.
Since his retirement, the couple have been living at Bandlaguda along with their son, Narsing Rao alias Raju, who is mentally challenged.
According to Rajendranagar police inspector K Rambhoopal Rao, Saroja was suffering from chronic illness apart from blood pressure. “The elderly woman died two days back and depressed over his wife’s death, Hanumantha Rao hanged himself to death yesterday,’’ the inspector said.
Narsing Rao felt that the locals would blame him for the death of his parents and did not inform the same to the neighbours or their relatives. During questioning, Narsing Rao reportedly told police that he read the brutal killing of an advocate at Raidurg by his rivals in newspapers a few days back and feared that he would be blamed for the death of his father, who earlier worked as a civil judge.
When Narsing Rao tried to to set ablaze his parents’ decomposed bodies today, neighbours noticed it and informed the police.
“It appears that Narsing Rao is innocent and was only fearing that he would be blamed for the death of his parents,’’ a police officer said.
The bodies were shifted to Osmania General Hospital for autopsy to ascertain the actual reason behind the death of the couple. Police, however, found no visible injuries on the bodies of the couple.
A case under Section 174 (suspicious death) was registered and investigation is on.
–Agencies