Mother of autistic boy who died at Sannidhi Institute of Disability alleges that her son was raped and killed

HYDERABAD: Demanding no further delay in initiating action against alleged killers of her son, mother of an autistic boy, who was found dead at Sannidhi Institute of Disability in Abdullapurmet in June 2017, threatened to go on a hunger strike. Addressing the media on Friday, she alleged that there was no progress in the case and even a charge sheet was not filed.

“My 18-year-old son Rudransh Panda was raped and murdered,” Sangamitra Samantray alleged, producing his autopsy report and a forensic report to support her claims. Responding to the allegations, special investigating officer Inspector K Satish said, “The autopsy report states it was manual strangulation. But the boy also had a history of hitting and hurting himself. We conducted lie-detector tests and polygraph tests on the caretaker and in-charge of the institute and are awaiting legal opinion.”

Sanghamitra said her son was 80 per cent autistic. She said she noticed behavioural changes in her son around February 2017. “It was at that time that the management changed without intimating any parents about it. My son, who was a food lover, threw his plate when he was offered food by one of his caretakers, who is also the prime accused.”