Woman techie, 7-year-old son found dead in US flat
Her family says husband’s extra-marital affair behind the killings
An IT professional from Andhra Pradesh and her seven-year-old son were found murdered in their apartment at Burlington, New Jersey, US, on Thursday. Narra Sasikala, 40, and her son Anish Sai were found stabbed to death.
Hanumantha Rao, who also works as a software engineer, had informed his in-laws that he found the bodies of his wife and son when he returned home from work on Thursday evening and called emergency services.
The New Jersey police has questioned Mr Rao in connection with the murders. His relatives in Prakasam district claimed he had been released, and had called home.
The family had migrated to the US 10 years ago.
The murder comes amid hate crimes against Indians, including the shooting down of a Hyderabadi techie Srinivas Kuchibhotla.
Sasikala’s parents, retired teachers Sunkara Venkateswar Rao and Krishna Kumari, who stay in Vijayawada, alleged that Mr Rao, who is also a software engineer, had must have been involved in the killing and was projecting the murders as hate crimes.
Retired teachers Sunkara Venkateswar Rao and Krishna Kumari, who stay at Tadigadapa in Vijayawada, alleged that Mr Rao had an affair with another woman and had been harassing Sasikala for five years.
According to Ms Krishna Kumari, Sasikala found messages from another woman in Hanumantha Rao’s cellphone in 2012. “Sasikala told me about his affair and took up the matter with her motherin-law,” she said.
Hanumantha Rao’s parents did not take the matter seriously and asked Sasikala to settle it amicably. “Today my daughter and grandson are dead and her in-laws did not have the courtesy to call us,” Ms Kumari said.
She said Sasikala had called home on Thursday and spoke normally. “She told us that our grandson Anish Sai was going to receive the student of the year award from the school,” said Mr Venkateswar Rao.