HYDERABAD: Three days after the 86-year-old founder of Veljan Group of Industries, Velamati Chandrashekara Janardhan Rao, was brutally stabbed and killed at his home over a property dispute, local police arrested his grandson Kilaru Kirti Teja for the murder on Sunday.
While the post-mortem examination (PME) report is still awaited, police said that injuries on the Hyderabad-based industrialist indicated that he was stabbed over 70 times by the accused.
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Cops have also recovered the murder weapon from his possession. Teja allegedly stabbed his mother also and she is currently in hospital
“On Thursday night (Feb 6), 29-year-old Teja had an argument with Rao accusing the latter of not dividing his property among family members. In a fit of rage, Teja attacked his grandfather and repeatedly stabbed him,” said Panjagutaa inspector B Shobhan.
He added: “After killing Rao, Teja changed his blood-stained clothes and fled from his grandfather’s house in Somajiguda.”
Police confirmed that there were numerous stab injuries on the victim’s body, but maintained that the exact number can be ascertained only after the PME report.
Though it was learnt that Teja left the city after the crime, police said he was arrested near Panjagutta flyover, not too far from the victim’s house.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Teja had recently returned to Hyderabad after completing his Master’s in the US. He had been living in Lanco Hills, a gated community in Hyderabad’s western corridor. Teja allegedly held a grudge against Rao as he felt he was discriminated against and not treated on a par with other members of the family. Rao has three daughters and a son.
On the day of the murder, he went to his grandfather’s house in the evening with his mother. Subsequently, an argument broke out between him and the victim and he attacked his grandfather, police said.
“When the victim’s mother tried to restrain her son, the accused attacked her as well,” said a cop, adding that it was she who alerted her brother, a resident of Jubilee Hills, about the murder.
At the time of murder, apart from Teja and his mother, the victim’s watchman was present at the building.