Three children kidnapped, murdered in Andhra

Distressed over not getting married, a man kidnapped and murdered three children of his relatives in Andhra Pradesh, police said.

The charred bodies of three girls aged between four and nine years were found Thursday morning on the outskirts of Nizamabad town, about 175 km from here.

The girls were kidnapped Wednesday night allegedly by their uncle Narendra Reddy during a marriage ceremony in the town. Even as the police teams were searching for the missing girls, their bodies were found near an engineering college.

The girls identified as Sree (9), Akshya (6) and Khushi (4) were granddaughters of Raghupati Reddy, a local leader of farmers, and had come to the town with their families from Dupalli village in the same district for the marriage.

According to family members, 37-year-old Narendra Reddy kidnapped the girls by luring them with chocolates. He later telephoned one of the family members to say that while all the relatives were getting married, he was yet to settle down. He was reportedly in deep depression and had even threatened to commit suicide.

Nizamabad district superintendent of police Tarun Joshi told reporters that Narendra Reddy was facing financial problems and was also under mental stress for not getting married.

The police official said special teams were formed to arrest the accused.