On 5th May 2022, Saroornagar police in Telangana arrested two attackers who had brutally killed Dalit Hindu boy Billipuram Nagaraju. The 25-year-old Billapuram Nagaraju, a resident of Marredpally, was stabbed to death near the Saroornagar Tehsildar’s office on Wednesday night for marrying a Muslim girl named Syed Ashrin Sultana alias Pallavi. A case has been registered in this regard in the Saroornagar police station under section 302 IPC and section 3(2)(V) of SC/ST (POA) Amendment Act 2015. The accused will be produced in front of the court for judicial custody.
The arrested accused have been identified as Syed Mobin Ahmed (age 30) who lives in Gurumurthy Nagar of the Balanagar area in Hyderabad and Mohammed Masood Ahmed (age 29) who is a resident of the Tara Nagar area in Sherilingampally of the Rangareddy district. Syed Mobin Ahmed is the brother of Syed Ashrin Sultana whom the deceased youth had married. Syed Mobin Ahmed is a fruit vendor while the other arrested accused Mohammad Masood Ahmed is a car mechanic by profession.
The deceased Billipuram Nagaraju worked as a marketing personnel in a Maruti showroom in Malakpet. He belongs to SC-Mala Community. Syed Ashrin Sultana and Billipuram Nagaraju knew each other from School and both studied in the same school and college. They were in love with each other for more than five years and they got married on 31st January 2022.
As accused Syed Mobin Ahmed sensed his sister’s relationship, he had warned her against it before marriage. On 30th January 2022, Syed Ashrin sultana left home. She did not take her mobile phone with her. The next day, Syed Ashrin Sultana and Billipuram Nagaraju married in Arya Samaj temple in the old city area of Hyderabad.
On 1st February 2022, Syed Ashrin sultana’s family members registered a missing complaint in the Balanagar police station. Her brother Syed Mobin Ahmed developed grudges against Billipuram Nagaraju. One month ago, both the arrested accused tried to locate Nagaraju but they failed to identify his location. On 4th May 2022, they again searched for his location. They knew that Nagaraju was at Maruti Showroom in Malakpet. As the location was not suitable to execute the murder, they followed him when he was going on his scooter with his wife Syed Ashrin Sultana. The accused chased them on a bike and stopped Nagaraju’s scooter near Anil Kumar colony of Saroornagar where they killed the deceased youth by hitting an iron rod on his head and stabbing him with a knife a number of times. The accused fled only after confirming his death.
The girl has said that among the people who had attacked her husband, she only recognises her brother, and does not know the others. Ashrin Sultana also said that she had begged the onlookers for help but nobody came forward when her husband Nagaraju was beaten at the signal in front of everyone. She also revealed that Billipuram Nagaraju had told her mother that he will convert to Islam, but still her family didn’t approve the marriage.
Meanwhile, the BJP leaders in Telangana have called for strict action against the family of Sultana. Telangana BJP MLA Raja Singh has called for the arrest of everyone involved in the planning and execution of the murder.
“Was it the family members, or did some religious groups advise the family? Did some group promise them financial help? There should be a full-fledged inquiry into this murder,” Raja Singh demanded.
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said that the case was a re-run of the Ankit Saxena, a Hindu boy who was murdered in Delhi for being in a relationship with a Muslim girl.
