Rice mill owner ends life after killing wife, son
   Date :15-Mar-2024

Rice mill owner ends life

 
 
 
 
Staff Reporter
 
 
IN A heart-wrenching incident, a debt-ridden rice mill owner killed his wife and son and later committed suicide in his house at Shanti Nagar, village Tuman, creating sensation in Mouda taluka, in the early hours of Thursday. After the bodies of Srinivas Edupuganti (58), his wife Padmalata (54) and son Venkat Chandrashekhar (29) were found in different rooms in their house, the news spread like a jungle fire in Tuman and nearby villages falling under the jurisdiction of Aroli Police Station. Besides police station staff, a team of Local Crime Branch of the Nagpur (Rural) Police visited the spot. Superintendent of Police (Nagpur Rural) Harssh Poddar also visited the spot to supervise the probe.
 
Srinivas Edupuganti, who owned a rice mill -- Srinivas Trading -- lived with his wife Padmalata, son Venkat and daughter-in-law Chandani on the first floor. His father-in-law and mother-in-law were also living on the ground floor of the same house. Padmalata, Venkat and Chandani were in separate rooms last night. Chandani slept in a different room as she kept watching the television till late night. After allegedly confirming that all were in deep slumber, Srinivas first strangulated Padmalata to death with a rope. He then entered the room of Venkat and smothered him to death with a pillow. After killing his wife and son, Srinivas ended his life by hanging. Around 6.30 am, Chandani woke up and saw her husband did not go to bring milk.
 
She checked the bedroom and found Venkat non responsive and got suspicious. She raised an alarm. Srinivas’s in-laws and some villagers rushed to the house and were shocked to find Srinivas, Padmalata and Venkat dead. As no suicide note was left by Srinivas, police recorded the statements of his relatives and some villagers and came to know that he was debt-ridden. However, the exact reason as to why Srinivas killed his wife and son before ending his life could not be ascertained so far. After conducting the ‘panchnama,’ police sent the bodies for post-mortem. After recording the statement of Arichandraprasad Gangaraju Edupuganti (46), a relative of the deceased, Aroli Police registered a case of double murder against Srinivas. Further investigations are underway.