Telangana IAS officer, son arrested for driver's murder

The Hyderabad police on Tuesday arrested an IAS officer and his son for allegedly murdering their car driver.

Police said Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer D. Venkateswara Rao allegedly tried to wipe out the evidence by helping his son Venkat Sukrut alias Sukru (21) shift the body of Bhukya Nagaraju (31) from an apartment building where he was murdered.

Police said Sukru murdered Nagaraju on March 17 on the terrace of Sai Kalyan Residency Apartments at Yousufguda.

Deputy Commissioner of Police A. Venkateswara Rao told reporters that Sukru, a second-year LLB student, and Nagaraju were in a homosexual relationship.

The two, who were in an inebriated condition, had a fight after Nagaraju allegedly wanted to have unnatural sex with him. During the scuffle, Sukru hit him on his head with a brick, resulting in his death.

The accused, who had escaped from there, returned in the wee hours of March 18 to check if Nagaraju had really died. He picked up the deceased's mobile phone and threw in an open place about a kilometre away. He then informed his father and other family members about the incident.

Sukru's father, who is Deputy Director in Telangana's Agriculture Department, instead of informing the police hatched a plan with him to dispose of the body and thus wipe out the evidence, the DCP said.

He along with Sukru and two others reached the building in a car late in the night on March 18. Only Sukru went upstairs and wrapped the body in a blanket.

However, the youth failed in his attempt to bring down the body from terrace and had to flee when questioned by one of the residents.

The body was found on March 19 in decomposed state after the residents of the apartments grew suspicious about foul smell and alerted the police.

Following the complaint by the driver's wife, the police on Monday detained Sukru for questioning. Later, his father was also called for questioning for his role in covering up the incident.

The DCP said they arrested the bureaucrat and his son after grilling them since Monday.

He said investigations were on to probe the role of others in the crime.

Nagaraju had been working as the driver of IAS officer's estranged wife for last two years. Sukru was staying with his mother while his brother was staying with their father.

Sukru had friendship with the driver. They used to booze together and were in a homosexual relationship.

As the watchman of Sai Kalyan Residency Apartments was Nagaraju's friend, they used to visit the place and booze together on the terrace. On March 17, when the watchman was not on duty, they went upstairs and had liquor.

--IANS

ms/lok