Visakhapatnam, June 27 (IANS) A court in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam on Friday handed down capital punishment for a man convicted of the murder of six members of a family, including a child and a six-month-old baby, four years ago.

The district court pronounced the death sentence for 53-year-old Battina Appalaraju, who had brutally hacked to death six persons over a dispute between the two families.

He killed several members of the Bammidi Vijay Kiran family in their house at Juttada in Pendurthi mandal on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam on April 15, 2021.

Appalaraju was arrested immediately after the murders and has since been lodged in jail.

According to police, the offender had barged into the house of Bammidi Ramana and attacked him and his family members with a scythe.

Ramana, 63, B. Usha Rani, 30, Alluri Ramadevi, 53, Nakettlu Aruna, 37, B. Uday, 4, and B. Urvasi (6 months) were killed in the attack.

After carrying out the murders, the offender went to the local police station and surrendered.

The murders had sent shock waves among the people of the village. The relatives of the victims, along with the area residents, had staged protests, demanding the immediate hanging of the accused.

The accused bore a grudge against Vijay Kiran as the latter had allegedly raped his daughter after giving her soft drink and tea, mixed with intoxicants, on several occasions. He had lodged a complaint with the police on April 9, 2018.

The victim had also alleged that Vijay Kiran’s wife, Usha Rani, had blackmailed her by showing her photos and demanding money from her. She had also named four others in her complaint for cooperating with the prime accused.

Vijay Kiran’s wife, Usha Rani, had also filed a counter case with the Pendurthy police on April 10, 2018, alleging that Battina Appalaraju and three others abused her in obscene language and threatened to kill her husband.

Police had filed charge sheets in both cases, and the trial was pending.

Viay Kiran’s wife and two children were among those killed in the attack by Appalaraju.

–IANS

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