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Journalism of Courage
T Maruti Rao, father of Amrita Varshini whose Dalit husband was hacked to death in Miryalaguda town in Nalgonda district of Telangana last year, committed suicide at a guesthouse in Hyderabad late on Saturday.
The incident came to light after Rao’s body was found by the staff of the guesthouse where he had checked in on Saturday afternoon. He, along with four others, was arrested in connection with the murder of his son-in-law P Pranay Kumar who belonged to the Scheduled Caste and was out on bail.
Pranay and Varshini, who belonged to a forward caste, got married in January last year against the wishes of her family. Following the marriage, Varshini’s father had threatened to kill Pranay several times as he belonged to the SC community.
On September 14, Pranay and his mother Prameela had taken Amrita, who was five months pregnant, for a checkup. While returning home, an unidentified assailant attacked Pranay with a machete, delivering two fatal blows on his neck, and killing him on the spot.
Days later, police took Amrita’s father Rao and uncle T Shravan Rao into custody for allegedly plotting the murder of Pranay and paying Rs 10 lakh to a hitman to kill him.
Pranay and Amrita knew each other from 2009 when they were in Class 10. As the opposition grew from Amrita’s family towards their relationship, the couple eloped on January 30 and got married at an Arya Samaj temple. On February 15, they returned to Pranay’s house.
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