Arpita’s maternal uncle Naresh (Raju) says he tried to do everything he could to protect the family from Rajkumar.
“Since Arpita’s father died last year, it was just women in the house – my sister, her two daughters, and her mother-in-law.
The only survivor of the carnage was Arpita’s elder sister Meghana, who is 19.
Rajkumar spared Meghana after stabbing her mother and grandmother in front of her and dragging her sister away to kill her too.
Rajkumar had been living next door to Arpita’s family in Shabad for nearly seven years.
Three days after the July 10 mass murders wrecked the two families, Rajkumar was found dead near Penjerla village, about 30 km from Shabad, with a bottle of herbicide next to his body. He is believed to have died by suicide. Police found a video on his phone recorded hours before the murders, in which he claimed he had sold his land and fallen into debt because of extortion by the minor’s family. Police, on the other hand, said he had huge debts of nearly Rs 2 crore from using online gambling sites.
Arpita’s maternal uncle Naresh (Raju) says he tried to do everything he could to protect the family from Rajkumar. He blames police officers at the Shabad police station for not arresting him, alleging they didn’t take the family’s fear of Rajkumar’s threats seriously.
Rajkumar was never arrested in the POCSO case. The Shabad police initially claimed that he was absconding, until he managed to get anticipatory bail a month after the FIR was registered.
Amid public outrage, Sub-Inspector T Ramesh was suspended for “lapses” during the investigation of the POCSO case.
“Since Arpita’s father died last year, it was just women in the house – my sister, her two daughters, and her mother-in-law. SI Ramesh kept telling us not to worry, that Rajkumar wouldn’t harm us. These deaths are a result of police negligence,” Naresh said.
The only survivor of the carnage was Arpita’s elder sister Meghana, who is 19. She was born with a developmental disorder and is nonverbal. Rajkumar spared Meghana after stabbing her mother and grandmother in front of her and dragging her sister away to kill her too.
Rangareddy district Collector C Narayana Reddy has said that authorities are considering moving her to an institution for persons with disabilities, as she needs full-time care.
Six kilometres away in Daivalaguda, Rajkumar’s wife Saritha’s brother, Kappera Sanjeeva, sits in disbelief near the house where his sister and nephews were killed. He recalls his nephew Parikshit running away from his father in fear sometimes, afraid he would hit him.
“He would hit the child sometimes if he was mischievous, but would coddle him later and buy him a packet of chips or a cool drink. We never noticed anything unusual. Now he has ruthlessly slaughtered his own children like goats,” said Sanjeeva.
Months of fear and caution before the murders
After completing Class 10 in a local school in Shabad, Arpita enrolled in a junior college in Shamshabad for intermediate in the BiPC stream (Biology, Physics, Chemistry). Her uncle Naresh says she wanted to pursue a career in medicine and was considering getting a nursing degree.
“We wanted her to study and work. We tried to encourage her by getting her the books she needed, since her father wasn’t around,” said Naresh.
Her deceased father, Mallesh, was an outsourced worker with the electricity department. Her mother, Lakshmi, was a daily wage worker.
Rajkumar had been living next door to Arpita’s family in Shabad for nearly seven years. He had moved there along with his parents and wife, Saritha, soon after their marriage in 2018. The two families were on cordial terms.
But once Arpita started going to college, about 30 km away, Naresh said Rajkumar began stalking her and harassing her during her commute, and forcing her to speak to him over the phone. “She would often have to change two buses for her daily commute. He would wait for her at her college or at the bus stops, and harass her. He would ask her to go out with him,” he said.
Rajkumar allegedly even threatened to kill her if she refused to speak with him.
Finally, Arpita’s mother, Lakshmi, stopped sending her to college and convinced the principal to let her appear for exams directly.
According to Naresh, once Raj Kumar realised that the family had found out about the harassment, he moved to Daivalaguda, his wife Saritha’s village about six kilometres away. His parents, however, continued to live in the family-owned house next door to Arpita. Naresh alleges that Raj Kumar had a CCTV camera outside this house, through which he monitored Arpita’s movements remotely.
