Hyderabad: Two days after a 40-year-old woman techie from Andhra Pradesh and her seven-year-old son were found murdered in an apartment in New Jersey, United States, officials there denied reports that had claimed the husband had been detained.
The Burlington county Prosecutor’s office said N. Hanumantha Rao had not been detained (as of Friday night, US time).
Officials said the homicide investigation was still being carried out by the detectives from the county prosecutor’s office. Much of the details remained secret as authorities were tight-lipped when asked if Rao was facing homicide charges.
However, county officials did reveal that they have not yet zeroed in on any other suspects in the double murder investigation.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ian Hood, medical examiner for Burlington County, who on Friday performed autopsies on the bodies said both victims had suffered multiple stab wounds. The bodies still remain in the morgue because of the ongoing investigation.
Representatives from the Telugu Association of North America or TANA, who have been making arrangements for the bodies to be brought back to India were also not sure if Rao was facing charges.
An official statement from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office had earlier revealed that police at Maple Shade were called to the Hamilton Road residence, where the bodies of N. Sasikala and her son, Anish Sai were found. Rao was there in the house when police arrived.
As the investigation officials did not find any sign of a break-in, Rao was later interrogated by the cops.
Neighbors in the apartment building told local media that Rao kept screaming, “My wife is gone, my wife is gone.”
“When he opened the house he couldn’t find his wife and son. When he went to open the bedroom he found those people, like dead — and blood everywhere,” Mohan Nannapaneni who identified himself as a family friend told reporters in the US.
Back home in India, Sasikala parents had on Friday alleged that Rao had had an extramarital affair with another woman in the US and said that it could’ve led to their daughter’s murder. They also alleged Rao had also accepted nearly '1crore in dowry.
Hanumantha Rao and wife Sasikala had moved to the US nearly a decade ago. The mother and child’s killing had sparked fears of another round of hate crimes in the United States but cops and higher officials were quick to report that the two murders were not hate crimes or the result of a targeted attack due to their Indian heritage.
