Teen kills driver, IAS father tries to help dispose body, Hyd police arrest both

Hyderabad police on Tuesday arrested a senior IAS officer from Telangana and his son in connection with the murder of their car driver over four days ago.

Sources said the accused - Telangana secretariat joint secretary (agriculture department) D Venkateshwar Rao and his son Venkat Sukru - were arrested by the Jubilee Hills police after a "thorough" interrogation. While Sukru reportedly admitted to murdering 26-year-old Bhukya Nagaraju in a fit of rage during a drinking session on the terrace of the Sai Kalyan residential apartment complex at Yousufguda on Friday night, his father has been charged with trying to help him get rid of the body the next day.

"Both the accused will be produced before the court on Wednesday," said West Zone deputy commissioner of police (DCP) A Venkateshwara Rao.

The police officer said 19-year-old Sukru had been in a homosexual relationship with Nagaraju for a while now. On Friday night, they went to the terrace of the apartment compex and consumed alcohol. Even as the two were initiating sex, they entered into an argument. In the scuffle that



followed, Sukru allegedly hit Nagaraju on the head with a brick - killing him. Then he covered the body with a polythene sheet, dragged it to a corner and fled.

However, Sukru returned a couple of hours later to retrieve Nagaraju's phone. He threw the mobile device on the road, and - the following day - told his father and other family members about the incident.

On Saturday night, Sukru and Venkateshwar allegedly came to the apartment complex with the intention of moving the victim's body. While the IAS officer waited downstairs in his car with another person, Sukru went to the terrace, wrapped Nagaraju's decomposing body in a bedsheet, and tried to drag it to the fifth-floor elevator.

"However, a flat owner - M Janaki Ramaiah - came out to check after hearing sounds outside his door. When he began questioning Sukru, the youngster left the body on the stairs and fled the scene," the DCP said.

Police picked up Sukru and his father after examining video footage obtained from closed circuit television cameras installed in the building.