Blind belief in reincarnation propels highly educated couple to kill two daughters in Andhra Pradesh

In a horrifying incident propelled by a blind belief in tantric rituals and reincarnation, a couple bludgeoned their two daughters Alekhya (27) and Sai Divya (22) to death on Sunday night at their home in Madanapalle of Andhra Pradesh.

What is more appalling is that the father and mother are highly educated, and are well respected teachers in the Chitoor district town, 120 km from Bengaluru. The family is very well settled also.

Dr V Purushotham Naidu, M.Sc., M.Phil, Ph.D, is an associate professor of chemistry at the Government Women's Degree College in Madanapalle, while his wife V Padmaja, M.Sc., (Gold Medalist) is the correspondent of Masterminds IIT Talent School, a private education institute.

Even the two daughters, now deceased, had promising careers.

Alekhya completed a post graduate course in forest management from Bhopal, while Divya, a graduate in business administration and a guitar enthusiast, was a music student at AR Rehman institute and was at home because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to Ravi Manohar Achari, DSP Madanapalle, the family became extremely superstitious and indulged in various tantric rituals from the last several months, confining themselves to their home, not even allowing the maid inside.

The couple resisted shifting of the bodies for post-mortem, claiming that their daughters would come back to life by morning.

“The way the couple is talking, it seems they have transcended to a different kind of world. They are asking us for one day time, saying that they would bring their kids back to life. They are refusing to explain how it would be possible. It is Srishti-rahasyam, they say,” Achari said.

“The girls were hit with a dumbbell. Only the four were present inside the house at the time of the crime. The couple is also admitting the same. We are anyway analysing the CCTV footage,"he said.

Social media posts by the two girls suggest that they were willful participants in the shocking rituals.

“Work is done!,” “Shiva is coming!!!,” posted Alekhya from her Instagram account four days ago.

The scalp hair of the girls were partially tonsured and one of the bodies was recovered from the puja room. Several literature related to religious leaders like Osho, Meher Baba were also found in their home.

“We have not taken the couple into custody yet as they are in a state of shock, like under some spell. And given their state of mind, we were not able to question them much. They are vehemently defending their actions, saying that they are well-read. The duo is proclaiming the end of Kali-yuga and the arrival of Satya-kaalam,” M Srinivas, Madanapalle Rural CI, told DH.

“Their total isolation from the society for the past few months seems to have affected them mentally to a big extent.”

The police said they have registered an FIR. “It could take some time to know why and how such a crime was committed.”