Weeks after 24-year-old Kavya and her family rejected a marriage proposal from Suresh, a 35-year-old fellow techie from their village in Andhra Pradesh, he walked into her house and shot her dead, police said.
Soon after running away from the spot where he had shot her, Suresh shot himself and took his life, according to reports. Kavya breathed her last while being moved to a hospital.
The incident happened in Tatiparthi village of Podalakuru mandal in Nellore district on Monday, May 9.
The Case
Malapati Suresh Reddy and Kavya Reddy were software professionals, and while he was posted in Bengaluru and she was working in Pune, both of them had been working from home for more than a year now because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nellore SP (Superintendent of Police) Vijaya Rao said it was a case of “one-sided love” from Suresh, and that his feelings for Kavya were unreciprocated. “He had been texting and calling her, and kept harassing her,” the SP said.
Last month, Suresh sent his parents to Kavya’s house for a marriage proposal, according to the SP. “Her family sensitively rejected the proposal by giving various reasons,” he said.
On Monday, around 3 pm, Suresh showed up at Kavya’s house with a firearm. Police said Kavya’s sister was with her, and Suresh pushed her aside when she tried to stop him.
“Witnesses said that the first round hit a bed, which will have to be verified by the CLUES team,” he said, adding that police are awaiting complete details on exactly what transpired. “We are also looking into how he got the weapon. It has the words ‘Made in USA’ written in English,” he added.
“As per preliminary information, two rounds were fired, and Kavya escaped the first round. The second round hit her in the head. We will have to wait for the post mortem report for clear details,” the SP said.
Atmakuru Deputy Superintendent of Police K Venkateswara Rao told PTI that the weapon used by Suresh was a country-made pistol. Initial reports suggested that Kavya and Suresh had been in a relationship and that it was only Kavya’s parents who refused to let them marry. The Atmakuru DSP told PTI that both their families were into farming, and Kavya's parents refused to marry their daughter off because of debt.
"This probably irked Suresh and he brought a country-made pistol to the village,” he said. However, SP Vijaya Rao later said that it was “one-side love from his side”.
The DSP added, “He first fired two shots at Kavya, one of which hit her on the forehead. She succumbed while being shifted to the hospital … After shooting her, Suresh ran some distance, jumped a wall and shot himself."
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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