Obsessed with girl, PET stabs her father to death

VIJAYAWADA: A physical education teacher (PET) stabbed a 56-year-old man to death late on Thursday night. The accused committed the crime allegedly because the victim refused to get his daughter married to him. The PET, identified as Gaddam Siva Manikanta (31), worked at a private school in Vidyadharapuram. The deceased, K Sri Ramachandra Prasad of Cheruvu Centre under Bhavanipuram police station, owned a grocery store in Brindavan Colony under Krishna Lanka police station limits.

Krishna Lanka police arrested Manikanta on Friday and recovered the knife he used to commit the crime. The accused was traced and nabbed while he was planning to abscond from the city, said police.

Sharing the details of the case, Krishna Lanka inspector of police A Muralikrishna said Prasad’s daughter was in second year of engineering. She was studying at a private college in Vijayawada. She befriended Manikanta through Instagram and they were in a relationship for more than three years.

Prasad rejected their relationship and warned Manikanta against approaching his daughter and creating troubles for his family. However, the PET continued to coerce the girl to get married to him. When she refused to accept his proposal, Manikanta hatched a plan to kill Prasad.

“On Thursday night around 9 pm, Manikanta obstructed Prasad and his daughter while they were on their way home. He picked up a fight with the girl’s father for rejecting their relationship. After a few minutes, he stabbed Prasad indiscriminately with a knife in front of the latter’s daughter. He threatened to post her photos and videos online,” police said.

Passersby immediately alerted the police and rushed Prasad to a hospital, where he was declared dead.

It has been learnt that Prasad went to Manikanta’s house a few days ago and complained to his parents about his behaviour and asked them to rein in their son. Based on a complaint from Prasad’s daughter, a case was registered under relevant sections of IPC.