NALGONDA: A day after 23-year-old law graduate Dharavath Nikhil’s body was found in mysterious circumstances in the Nagarjuna Sagar Project (NSP) canal at Munagala near Kodad in Suryapet district on Tuesday, police picked up his friend Devarashetti Apoorva’s family members for questioning. Nikhil and Apoorva, who were classmates reportedly fell in love while studying Intermediate.
Nikhil’s parents and leaders of Lambada Hakkula Porata Samiti allege that he is a victim of an ‘honour killing’ since he belongs to the ST community and Apoorva is a Vaishya. Nikhil’s family, comprising father Dharavath Bhasker, mother Kotamma and sister Mounika, said that Nikhil and Apoorva, daughter of Devarashetti Srinivas, were friends since their Intermediate days.
However, Apoorva’s upper-caste family did not approve of their friendship. They said Apoorva, who is a software engineer in a private company in Hyderabad, was working remotely and the couple used to talk over the phone frequently. Devarashetti Srinivas had threatened Nikhil over this. “We do not have any enemies. Apoorva family killed my son,” Kotamma accuses.
Mounika said Apoorva’s engagement was fixed recently. After this, she was pressuring my brother for marriage. “Coming to know about this, Apoorva’s father and friends called Nikhil under the guise of a birthday party on October 9 and killed him. They dumped his body in the canal,” she said.
According to the police, Nikhil, a resident of Suryapet, left his house around 7 pm on Sunday informing his family members that he was going for birthday party of a friend. He called his mother by 11.30 pm and informed her he was heading home. As he did not return, his parents called him several times but his phone was switched off. On Monday, they filed a missing complaint at the Suryapet Town police station.
On Tuesday morning, some farmers, who were working on the outskirts of Kattukommugudem village, found a body floating in the canal and informed the police. Further investigations revealed that the body was that of Nikhil. The body was handed over to his relatives after post-mortem.
FSL report awaited
Suryapeta SP S Rajendra Prasad told TNIE that water samples collected from the body and canal have been sent for detailed forensic laboratory tests