KAKINADA: Nine days after a tragic family suicide pact shocked the State, the Kakinada district police on Monday produced prime accused Shaik Sadiq Khan — Director of PRO Rifle Shooting Academy — before the court after arresting him in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh.
Sadiq Khan was remanded to judicial custody in connection with the family suicide pact involving Pithapuram Panchayat Raj Assistant Engineer Tillapudi Nookaraju and his family, as well as the suspected murder of Nookaraju’s son-in-law, Kovvuri Jagadish Reddy.
Addressing the media, Kakinada district Superintendent of Police G Bindu Madhav confirmed that suicide notes recovered by the Rajahmundry Two Town police explicitly cited severe harassment, financial extortion, and pressure for religious conversion by Sadiq Khan.
Crucially, Nooka Raju’s daughter, Sowjanya, stated in her note that Sadiq Khan had murdered her husband, Jagadish Reddy, by administering chemical poison.
Following a complaint lodged on August 17 by Jagadish Reddy’s father, Kovvuri Bhaskar Reddy, the Sarpavaram police registered a case (Cr. No. 260/2026) and began the probe.
The tragedy occurred on August 16 when Nooka Raju, his wife Meena, daughter Sowjanya, and grandson Riansh Kartikeya Reddy jumped into the Godavari River from the Rajamahendravaram Road-cum-Rail Bridge. While young Riansh survived, the other three drowned. To track the fleeing accused, SP Bindu Madhav deployed 10 special teams that launched an extensive multi-state chase spanning five states.
Acting on intelligence, a special team traced Sadiq Khan to Nauchandi in Meerut, apprehending him on August 22 with local police support.
After securing a transit warrant from the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Meerut, police brought him to Kakinada on Sunday night.
Following a medical evaluation at Kakinada Government General Hospital, he was produced before the Specia Mobile Judicial First Class Magistrate Court and remanded to custody.
