The horrifying murder of Pranay Perumalla, who was hacked to death in a case of caste killing on Friday, September 14, in Telangana's Miryalguda, has shocked the nation.

The honour killing occurred nine months after Pranay, a Dalit youth, married Amrutha Varshini. T Maruthi Rao, Amrutha's father and a renowned businessman, had reportedly accepted to having hired contract killers to murder Pranay since Amrutha's marriage to Pranay was against his pride.

Amrutha has also accused Nakrekal MLA Vemula Veeresham, who her father was close to, of threatening the couple several times after their marriage. She said that TRS MLA Veeresham called her and her husband and warned them at the behest of her father. "Pranay and I had read reports of the MLA having several cases registered against him and were scared. He also got a case booked against my father-in-law. The police harassed him for two days. They also threatened to file cases against Pranay, saying he will be booked for drugs and women. We complained to inspector general of police Stephen Ravindra, who directed senior police officers to take action," Amrutha told mediapersons.

MLA Veeresham denied the allegation stating that he never met or called Pranay or his father Balaswamy, nor forced any false cases against them at Ketheypally police station.

TRS party spokesperson Keshava Rao told MyNation, "Most of what I know about this is through the papers. Whoever it is, the law will take its own course. Nobody will be spared however big that man is or whichever party he belongs to. If Pranay's wife has accused the MLA, it must be enquired into. Police have to book everybody. Such a gruesome murder it is."

Nalgonda police have refused to take MLA Veeresham into questioning despite Amrutha Varshini's direct accusation.

Interestingly, Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has not said a word regarding the gruesome murder despite it making headlines.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, on the other hand, spoke about the incident saying, "When a boy and a girl like each other and the boy is good, parents must bless them and help them. If the elders do not like, they should leave them to their fate. But killing someone because he comes from a lower caste is what superstition and ego cultivates."

A Congress worker Mohammad Abdul Kareem, who was also named in the case, has been removed from the party.

"Kareem has been suspended within a couple of hours of his name cropping up as a suspect. On what basis, we will look into it later. We will respect the decision of the authorities. But why not in the case of Vemula Veeresham?" questioned Congress spokesperson Krishank.

"Vemula Veeresham has quite a number of criminal cases registered against him. His name had also come up in the recent hacking-to-death incident of Congress leader Bodupalli Srinivas. Generally, if the family members suspect someone, it is the police's duty to investigate those suspects. But here, you don't see that the police has tried to investigate Vemula Veeresham when the wife of the deceased is telling it," Krishank added.

Apart from Maruti Rao, his brother T Shravan Rao too has been arrested. Maruti Rao allegedly paid Rs 10 lakh to contract killer Subash Sharma from Bihar to get Pranay killed.