Nalgonda honour killing: It is the status that matters, not the happiness of my daughter, says accused father Maruthi Rao

HYDERABAD/MIRYALGUDA: The main accused in the Miryalaguda honour killing case, Thirunagari Maruthi Rao (56) is a well-known realtor and one of the town’s richest businessmen and, along with his brother Sravan, has joined the TRS recently. He started his career as a small-time transporter transporting public distribution system commodities while his father was a ration dealer. Rao is said to have been in police custody for the last two days and police are likely to announce his arrest on Monday.

According to the police, Maruthi Rao hails from Kakinada and settled in Miryalaguda. In over a couple of decades he climbed up the social and political ladder to emerge as an influential wheeler-dealer. Rao is so influential in local political circles that many elected representatives are known to have tried to convince Amruthavarshini to leave her husband and go back to her distraught father.

Rao was also allegedly involved in land-grabbing with focus on ‘assigned lands’. Following his detention in the honour killing case, he is believed to have confessed to his crime saying that his status was dearer to him than the happiness of his daughter.

Known to be closely associated with the ruling party in the Miryalaguda Assembly constituency, Rao has joined the TRS recently. A flexi of Rao and his brother Sravan, greeting minister for power G Jagadeesh Reddy and erected by the brothers at one of their sites, is drawing onlookers’ attention following  the incident. Rao also allegedly had connections with slain gangster Nayeem. Their relation dates back to the 90s when both of them sets their sights on a small parcel of land near Miryalaguda. Nayeem kidnapped Rao, following which they compromised and struck a deal to work together and not to enter into each other’s area of operation for grabbing lands.

From his humble beginning, gradually, he took over his father’s PDS dealership and ran the ration shop himself while simultaneously running the transport business. This is when he started building contacts with revenue, police and other government officials. Rao loved his daughter so much that he opened a kids play school, named Amrutha Play School, in Reddy Colony in the town recently.