Priest father-son duo die by suicide in Jangaon

A priest and his son died by suicide in Jangaon district, Telangana, allegedly due to financial and family distress.

Hyderabad: In a tragic incident, a priest father-son duo died by suicide in Telangana’s Jangaon district on Friday. The incident occurred in Bandlagudem village of Lingala Ghanpur mandal.

Lakshminarasimha Charyulu and his son, Pawan Kumar Charyulu, who were working as priests at the Lakshminarasimha Swamy temple, allegedly died by suicide by jumping into the temple pond.

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Locals who spotted their bodies in the pond alerted the police. The bodies were pulled out and shifted to a government hospital for autopsy.

Preliminary investigation by the police indicated that the priests took the extreme step due to financial and family problems.

Lakshminarasimha Charyulu’s wife, Sridevi, had died a month ago due to health-related issues.

Police registered a case and took up further investigation.

Meanwhile, in Khammam district, a woman was found dead at her house and her relatives alleged that her husband killed her for insurance money.

R. Meenakshi (28) was found hanging in her house in Gol Thanda in Thirumalayapalem on the outskirts of Khammam town on Friday morning.

Police detained her husband, R. Shivaji, after an old video allegedly showing him brutally assaulting her surfaced.

Meenakshi’s relatives alleged that Shivaji beat her to death and was trying to make it appear as a suicide.

They demanded that police charge Shivaji with Meenakshi’s murder.

They alleged that he had been eyeing the life insurance policy purchased in her name and that he regularly assaulted and harassed her.

According to the family, there was an insurance policy worth Rs 80 lakh in her name.

Hours after Meenakshi’s body was found, a video surfaced showing Shivaji purportedly hitting Meenakshi with a belt. The woman was tied up while their child could be heard crying in the background.

According to police, the video was recorded by one of Meenakshi’s relatives but was kept hidden after family members intervened and a compromise was reached.

Police said they had registered a case and launched an investigation. They were awaiting the post-mortem examination report to ascertain whether it was a case of suicide or murder.

Police were questioning Shivaji as part of the investigation.