HYDERABAD: A farmer and his wife were arrested on Monday for allegedly starving his aged parents to death at Mothey village in Suryapet district.
Mothey police said N Ramachandra Reddy, 90, and his wife Anasuyamma, 80, died on May 27.
Later, his son Nageshwar Reddy and his wife Lakshmi, with the support of a few others, buried the bodies in the village, claiming they had contracted Covid-19 and passed away.
Meanwhile, in the last few days, rumours started doing rounds among villagers and local WhatsApp groups that the elderly had died allegedly due to negligence of their son.
Son didn’t even provide food and water to his parents The son reportedly did not even serve them food and water.
Police were forced to conduct a preliminary inquiry.
Nageshwar Reddy and Lakshmi reportedly threw the aged couple out of their house, forcing them to live under a tarpaulin tent.
The aged couple stayed in the tent for nearly a week.
During that time, the accused allegedly did not even serve them food and water.
Police exhumed the bodies and sent them for postmortem examination (PME).
“Due to starvation, the old couple died.
The PME showed that they died due to dehydration,’’ Mothey sub-inspector Praveen Kumar said.
According to police, a criminal case was registered under Section 304 II of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).