Andhra girls beaten to death by parents for alleged occult ritual

Hyderabad: In a shocking incident, a superstitious teacher couple in Andhra Pradesh allegedly killed their two daughters on Sunday night for what seems to be a case of human sacrifice. The bizarre incident was reported from their three-storey home in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, where both the girls, in their 20s, were killed by their parents. The deceased were identified as Aleikhya (27) and Sai Divya (23) found in red saris, lying in blood with their heads allegedly bashed with a dumbbell.

The police said that prima facie, the murders appear linked to occult practices. When the police arrived at the house, tipped by friends of the family, the parents who appeared to be highly delusional claimed they could bring them both back to life if given a day.

"It appears that they were following some superstitious beliefs like after death they will be resurrected and life can be put into them," Chittoor superintendent of police S. Senthil Kumar told IANS.

The family appeared to have participated in a ritual before the murders on Sunday evening. The parents, highly educated yet extremely superstitious, allegedly believed their girls were possessed by some evil spirit. Neighbours also claimed that the girls were made to circle the house as part of the elaborate rituals.

Alekhya used to work at Bhopal's Indian Institute of Forest Management and had recently resigned to prepare for civil services exam. Her sister Sai Divya was a graduate and was pursuing music at a Chennai-based AR Rahman institute.

The parents, in their 50s are both working as teachers. Valleru Purushottam Naidu is a professor of chemistry and vice-principal at the Government Girls' Degree College in Madanapalle, while Padmaja identifies herself as a gold medalist, postgraduate in mathematics, who was working at an IIT coaching institute.

The police have taken the couple in custody and the bodies have been sent for post-mortem.