Sacked CRPF personnel beheads children, kills 5 villagers

The incident took place in Mettapeta, in Srikakulam district, around 750 kms from here late last night, they said.

M Shankar Rao, sentenced to seven years in jail in the dowry death case of his wife in 2009 (who committed suicide in 2005), was later dismissed from service, they said.

Rao bore grudge against the witnesses who gave statements against him in the case, and while in jail allegedly hatched a plan to eliminate them, police said.

He came out of the jail five months ago after getting his sentence suspended by filing an appeal in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. The appeal is still pending.

Rao, said to be mentally unsound, after serving food to his two kids Diwakar (6) and Manisha (5) in his house last night, allegedly beheaded them in their sleep with a sharp weapon, Srikakulam Superintendent of Police Sanjay Kumar Jain told PTI.

Rao then wore the CRPF uniform and started searching for the witnesses in the village.

He chased every witness and hacked to death five persons, including three women, another police officer said.