Telangana: IAS officer’s son held for ‘stabbing his driver’

THE SON of a senior IAS officer in Telangana has been taken into custody for allegedly stabbing their driver on Friday night on the terrace of a highrise.

The body of the driver B Nagaraju, 30, was found by residents rolled in a bedsheet which D Venkat Sukrut, 26, had allegedly abandoned on the stairs of Sai Kalyan Residency Apartments on Saturday night after being confronted by a resident while he was dragging it downstairs.

Sukrut, the son of deputy secretary in the state agriculture department D Venkateshwara Rao, had gone to retrieve the body and dispose of it.

The terrace where the murder occurred is adjacent to a penthouse that is owned by a friend of Sukrut, but he was not present in the house that night. Police are yet to establish the motive for the murder.

Police sources said the IAS officer’s son and his wife are estranged, and that Nagaraju was their driver.

On Friday night, Sukrut reportedly called Nagaraju to his house in Yousufguda and both went out and purchased a bottle of liquor. “They reached Sai Kalyan Residency Apartments and, seeing there was no security, they went to the terrace and started consuming the liquor. What transpired we do not know yet but at some point, Sukrut broke the bottle and stabbed Nagaraju, who died on the spot,’’ DCP A Venkateshwara Rao said.

“He covered the body with a plastic sheet and fled .... On Saturday night, Sukrut returned and rolled the body in a bed sheet and was dragging it downstairs when one resident opened the door and confronted him. Sukrut fled, leaving the body there,” the police officer said.

“The resident then called the police. From CCTV footage we identified him. We also found footage of both of them going to the terrace and Sukrut late in the night going down alone. We cannot reveal any more details now,” Rao said.

Police spoke with the bureaucrat on Sunday night but he was unable to provide information.

The bureaucrat and his wife have lived separately for 12 years and Sukrut lived with his mother in Yousufguda. Sukrut is a second-year LLB student.

Nagaraju was their driver for several years and lived nearby with his wife and two children in Rehmatnagar, officers of Jubilee Hills police station said.

They said Nagaraju was close to Sukrut, almost like a friend, and they used to frequently drink together. Nagaraju used to spend the entire day at their house.