HYDERABAD: The Rachakonda police Commissionerate in Hyderabad on Tuesday said they cracked the murder of a 75-year old man, a family priest by profession, and his son here a few days ago, also stating superstitious beliefs were the motive for the ghastly incident.
The deceased priest was known to the main accused, a 31-year old man, for a long time. He was allegedly superstitious that he can achieve anything if the priest performed a 'puja' for him, a police release said.
The main accused had appeared for a police recruitment test in 2016 and the deceased priest took Rs six lakh from him for performing a puja for him to get the job. He also made him pay Rs 12.50 lakh to a person.
But, the main accused did not get the job and he put pressure on the person to return his Rs 12.50 lakh. The person had returned Rs 10 lakh and gave cheques for Rs 2.50 lakh.
But the priest failed to return Rs six lakh and dodged the matter, the release said.
Subsequently, the main accused had faced some problems in his personal financial transactions and paid money on different occasions for performing puja to the priest to overcome them.
Since March, 2021, the main accused mounted pressure on the priest to return his Rs six lakh but the priest dragged the matter and started avoiding him, it said.
The main accused had developed a strong feeling that he fell sick, suffered financial losses, got involved in a police case and also experienced "bad vibes on every full moon day" as the priest might have performed black magic on him to avoid repaying the Rs six lakh.
He had decided to eliminate the priest and took the help of others.
Accordingly, on October 14, the main accused and an associate allegedly attacked the priest and his son at the latter's residence. The priest and his son died in the incident.
Strenuous efforts led to the case being cracked and the main accused along with some of his associates were arrested, the release said.
