Overcome by grief after his kidnapped nine-year-old daughter was killed, a prominent liquor businessman died on Tuesday within hours after suffering a heart attack on hearing the news of her death.
A massive public outcry across Andhra Pradesh followed the death of P Prabhakar and Naga Vyshnavi in Vijayawada and the state government was considering setting up a fast-track court to try the case of the "gruesome" murder of the girl.
Prabhakar, who suffered a cardiac arrest last night after hearing the tragic news, died this morning at a private hospital in Vijaywada where he was admitted, hospital sources said. The businessman was in an unconscious condition since the moment he was admitted to the hospital and was on ventilator support, the sources said.
Vyshnavi was abducted on January 30 for the second time in six years while she was going to school along with her brother in a car. The kidnappers killed the car driver, who tried to resist them, while the girl's brother managed to escape from their clutches.
The burnt body of Vyshnavi was found in a boiler inside a factory at Autonagar in Guntur, 60 km from Vijaywada yesterday. She was believed to have been murdered on January 30 itself. Police has taken into custody Venkat Rao Goud and Srinivasa Rao, relatives of Prabhakar, and two local history sheeters in connection with the girl's kidnap and killing.
Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad after a high-level review meeting with Home Minister P Sabita Reddy and DGP R R Girish Kumar, Chief Minister K Rosaiah said rather than trying the case under Criminal Procedure Code in the normal course the government is planning to set up a fast-track court to ensure speedy disposal of the case.
According to police, a personal dispute in Prabhakar's family could be the motive behind the kidnapping and killing of the girl.
Venkat Rao Goud, one of the arrested persons, is the brother of Prabhakar's first wife. The victim was born out of her father's second wife.
Rosaiah said Vaishnavi was previously kidnapped in 2004 as well but her family "settled" the issue privately and secured her release.
"Even this time, her father Prabhakar did not so much cooperate with the police in cracking the case. Unfortunately Prabhakar too died of heart-attack following the shock caused by his daughter's death," Rosaiah pointed out.
Doctors and forensic experts at Guntur said the body parts of the girl that remained would be sent for examination.
The kidnap and killing of the girl and the death of her father has triggered a public outcry with citizens of Vijayawada and civil society organisations demanding a stringent punishment to the killers of the girl.
A pall of gloom descended at Vyshnavi's school and their residence at Ayodhya Nagar in Vijayawada.
"How can the kidnappers killed an innocent child," was the common refrain.
Rosaiah, Telugu Desam Chief N Chandrababu Naidu, Praja Rajyam Party president Chiranjeevi, state Congress president D Srinivas and state BJP president B Dattatreya condemned the kidnap and killing of the girl.
Rosaiah said he has directed the police to conduct a quick and thorough inquiry into the incident.
The State government has sent Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao, Animal Husbandry Minister K P Sarathy and 'Arogyasri' Minister P Satyanarayana to Vijayawada to console Vaishnavi's family. PTI
