Expressing satisfaction over the quantum of sentence, Pranay's father Perumalla Balaswamy said there was no place for murder in a civilised society.
Published Mar 10, 2025 | 4:11 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 10, 2025 | 8:02 PM
Pranay Perumalla and Amrutha Varshini. (Supplied)
Synopsis: More than six years after 23-year-old Pranay Perumalla was hacked to death in front of his pregnant wife and mother, a court in Nalgonda sentenced one of the accused to death and life imprisonment for six others. Pranay was murdered by killers hired by his wife Amrutha Varshini’s father, Maruthi Rao, who later died by suicide.
A court in Nalgonda has awarded the death sentence to a man in the shocking Miriyalaguda “honour killing” case.
While sentencing the second accused, Subhash Kumar Sharma, to death, the Nalgonda SC/ST Second Additional Sessions Court on Monday, 10 March, ordered life imprisonment for the remaining six people.
The first accused, Tirunagari Maruthi Rao, had died by suicide in a Khairatabad hotel room on 18 March 2020.
It was alleged that Maruthi Rao had contracted a gang of killers to eliminate Pranay Perumalla, a 23-year-old Dalit man, for marrying his daughter Amrutha Varshini, also aged 23.
Honour killing or shame killing is a form of murder in which a person is killed — by or at the behest of their family members or partner — due to beliefs that often go against modern society.
The young man was hacked to death in Miriyalaguda, in front of a five-month-pregnant Amrutha and her mother-in-law, Premalatha, on 14 September 2018. The couple was married for six months when Pranay was killed.
Pranay, Amrutha, and Premalatha were returning home from a hospital when the gang attacked the youth. He had taken Amrutha for a regular health check-up.
The murder sent shock waves across the nation after it was caught on CCTV cameras. Maruthi Rao allegedly commissioned the murder for ₹1 crore since Amrutha had married a Dalit man against his wish, and brought “dishonour” to his family.
After the marriage, Maruthi Rao tried to influence Amrutha and even tried to force her to terminate her pregnancy. Pranay’s family had accepted her.
The court identified Maruthi Rao as the mastermind behind the murder. Asgar Ali, Bari, Karim, Sravan Kumar, Siva, and Nizam were those sentenced to life imprisonment.
The accused had sought lesser punishment, citing reasons ranging from ill health of family members to the responsibility of taking care of their young children.
Pranay’s father, Perumalla Balaswamy, broke down after hearing the judgment. “The pain of losing my son will always be there, though justice has finally been done,” he said.
“The murder has led to Amrutha losing her husband, we losing our son, and my grandson losing his father,” the man said, adding that there was no place for murder in a civilised society.
The court’s judgment upheld justice and proved that the country, the state, and the society would not condone such acts of cruelty. He pointed out that after waiting for years, the court has delivered a satisfactory judgment.
The police filed a 1,600-page chargesheet on 12 June 2019. The trial went on for more than five and a half years.
The Nalgonda police investigated the case under the supervision of the then District Superintendent of Police, AV Ranganath, currently the Commissioner of HYDRAA.
Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma co-produced a movie, Murder, based on several true stories, including the Miriyalaguda brutality.
The movie ran into legal trouble following objections by Maruthi Rao’s family. It was later released on 24 December 2020.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
