Indian couple allegedly kill daughters, believed they could bring them back to life: report

An Indian couple in Andhra allegedly killed their daughters whom they thought were possessed by evil spirits. Police said that the couple believed the daughters could be brought back to life. 

According to Indian news reports, Indian police barged into the house of  Valleru Purushottam Naidu and Padmaja, both in their 50s, to find their daughters, Alekhya (27) and Sai Divya (23) lying on the floor in a pool of blood in red saris.

According to police, the couple had initially denied them entry into the house. However, police were able to find the bodies after barging into their houses despite the couple's resistance. 

The two daughters had been bludgeoned to death by dumbbells, said police. 

Neighbours told police that the parents had been involved in a ritual before the murders, adding that the couple believed their daughters were possessed by evil spirits.

The neighbours further revealed that the girls were made to circle the house as part of some ritual before they were bludgeoned to death.

"The scene of crime suggests some rituals were carried out; the women were clad in a red saree and the parents appeared to be highly delusional," police officer Ravi Manohara Chary told an Indian TV channel.

"There were only four people in the house, the husband, wife and their two daughters. There are CCTV cameras here, so we will analyse it. From what they are saying, they went away spiritually into another zone, they told us, give one day's time, we will bring them back to life.''

The parents, Valleru Purushottam Naidu and Padmaja, are both in their 50s and have been arrested. Chary said that Naidu is a professor of chemistry and vice-principal of the Government Girls' Degree College in Madanapalle while Padmaja is a postgraduate in mathematics.

Alekhya, one of the girls who was killed, was preparing for the Indian civil services exam. Her sister Sai Divya was a graduate and was pursuing music at an institute.