HYDERABAD: The Rachakonda police on Wednesday arrested a 26-year-old man Maddikunta Raju at Saroornagar on charges of killing his girlfriend Mounika’s 18-month-old son. The accused had initially informed Mounika that the child, Rohith Rekwal, developed seizures and was found dead when he took him to the hospital. But the post-mortem revealed that the child suffered internal injuries in the chest and head, resulting in the death. Based on the findings, police picked up Raju and on inquiry, he admitted to having killed the child. He rained blows on the child’s head, chest and also banged him to the cot, resulting in the death as he found the child to be an “obstruction” in his life with Mounika.
Mounika was married to Ajay Lal Rekwal but the couple grew apart after their child Rohith’s birth. In January 2021, they separated. While Ajaylal stayed at Borabanda, Mounika moved out with her son, to live in Saroornagar with Raju. Before Mounika met Ajaylal, she was in a relationship with Raju for three years.
Raju, who is a washing machine technician, found Rohith’s presence irritating. Hence he decided to kill the child around two weeks ago.
On Saturday evening, Mounika left to work leaving her son with Raju. A couple of hours later, Raju called up Mounika saying Rohith was having seizures and asked her to come to the hospital immediately. He first took the child to private hospitals and later along with Mounika took him to Osmania Hospital, where the child was declared brought dead. He told Mounika that after he gave some milk to Rohith, he vomited and had seizures.Ajaylal raised suspicions about the death and registered a police complaint on Sunday. Though Raju initially denied his role, after the post-mortem, he admitted that he killed Rohith.