Man kills mother, sister in Medchal to pay off his gambling debts

P. Sainath Reddy had lost huge amounts in cricket betting. He hatched a plan to kill the two women hoping to inherit the family property, sell it, and clear his debts with the money. He laced their food with pesticide. After battling for their lives for more than a week, Sunitha and her daughter Anusha died while undergoing treatment.

Sainath would have got away with his plan but his relatives and villagers grew suspicious and alerted the police just before the final rites of the two women. The cops swung into action and questioned Sainath who confessed to the crime.

The Reddy family is from Ravalkole village in Medchal. Sainath's father, Palli Prabhakar Reddy, passed away a few years ago, leaving Sainath, his mother Sunitha, and sister Anusha. Sainath was pursuing MTech while also working for a private firm.

After his father's death, he got involved in betting and spent huge amounts. When he came to know that his father's insurance amount was lying in his mother's bank account, he withdrew the money without her knowledge and spent it on betting. However, he kept losing money. He had also stolen his mother's gold jewellery and sold them to support his habit.

Gradually, he slipped into a financial crisis. To get out of this, he hatched a plan to kill his family. He mixed pesticide in their food and when they became unconscious after consuming it, he admitted them to a hospital saying they had food poisoning. Sunitha and Anusha died within a week.

The police found that Sainath was using mobile apps for cricket betting and that he had also availed loans from agencies that operated through mobile apps.