The murder of Perumalla Pranay Kumar is seen as one of the most heinous honour killings that took place in the state of Telangana. In 2018, Pranay came out of the hospital in Miryalguda town along with his pregnant wife, Amrutha when an unknown man armed with a machete hacked him to death.
The crime was caught on CCTV footage which showed a 23-year-old Pranay being attacked from behind and his wife trying to stop the attacker. The incident created tremors in the state due to the nature of the crime and the motive involved.
After the court verdict in the Pranay murder case, Pranay's father Balaswamy reacted with tears. He said emotionally, "Although the verdict has given us justice, it has not given us happiness. No one can take away the pain of not having a son. We want the killings to stop."
— Hyderabad Mail (@Hyderabad_Mail) March 10, 2025
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Pranay was a Dalit and Amrutha, his wife, was from the upper caste. Both knew each other from school days. When they decided to tie the knot, Amrutha’s family vehemently opposed the move. The couple, supported by Pranay’s family members, got married at Arya Samaj in Hyderabad. The threats from Amrutha’s family members followed by the pretence of reconciliation finally culminated in murder.
“I cannot say I am happy because I have lost my son,” Pranay’s father, Balaswamy broke down after a court verdict. A local court in Nalgonda pronounced a death sentence to the accused Subhash Sharma, from Bihar, who roped in contract killers at the behest of Amrutha’s father, Maruthi Rao, who was accused No. 1. In 2020, he committed suicide in Hyderabad. The court sentenced 6 other accused to life sentences including Maruthi Rao’s brother, Shravan.
Dramatic visuals were recorded outside the court where Shravan’s daughter and cousin of Amrutha wailed as she accused her of destroying their family. “My father is innocent,” she said unable to control her emotions.
Amrutha has been raising her child with the support of her in-laws. She has time and again stood by her statement that her family members were responsible for the murder of her husband.
Police officials involved in the case said that the court order is a fine example of recognition of the hard work and efforts of the officials which involved meticulously filing hundreds of pages of chargesheets.
As per the police investigation, it was found that Maruthi Rao treated the inter-caste marriage as a matter of shame and betrayal of her daughter and that’s when he decided to eliminate Pranay.
