HYDERABAD: Telangana Police have formed 12 special teams and launched a massive manhunt for the accused, who allegedly killed six people in Rangareddy district, a senior police official said on Sunday.P Rajkumar (35), a farmer and an accused in a POCSO case, allegedly killed six people—his wife, two children and three members of another family—in separate attacks at different locations in Shabad mandal late on Friday night. The victims’ family had earlier lodged a complaint against him for allegedly harassing their minor daughter.Based on technical inputs and other leads, including information gathered from the accused’s friends and relatives, police have launched searches at multiple locations, Future City police commissioner Tarun Joshi told PTI.“Police have formed 12 teams and launched a massive hunt to locate the accused. Our teams are searching for him and we will get (nab) him,” he said.Investigators analysed the accused’s call records, examined CCTV footage and traced the car he had hired a day before the alleged murders.Police said Rajkumar rented the vehicle from a transporter by making an online payment using his wife’s phone. After the car ran out of fuel, he allegedly abandoned it near railway tracks under the Nandigama Police Station limits.Police are searching for the accused at lodges, roadside dhabas, railway stations and the homes of his relatives in Hyderabad, besides conducting searches in Srisailam, Andhra Pradesh, the official said.His photographs have been circulated, and a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh has been announced for anyone providing credible information leading to Rajkumar’s arrest, police added.“The teams are searching for him in isolated areas. Apart from it, the railway tracks were also searched by the police teams as he had told his father that he will commit suicide. But no body was found. The (Government Railway Police) GRP has also been intimated,” Joshi said.The accused was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in May for allegedly stalking and harassing a minor girl, following a complaint filed by her family. He had recently secured anticipatory bail in the case, police said.According to investigators, Rajkumar allegedly used a sickle and a knife to stab and slit the throats of all six victims.Police said that immediately after the killings, the accused called his father, confessed to the crimes and told him he intended to end his own life before switching off his mobile phone.When asked about the motive behind the murders, the investigators stated it was still not known.During questioning, Rajkumar’s family told police that he was addicted to online betting and gambling and had accumulated substantial debt, which they believed had left him under severe stress.They said he had repaid a significant portion of the loans by selling his share of the family’s land.The investigation also revealed that Rajkumar had attempted suicide in October last year by consuming poison, allegedly due to mounting debts, police said.(With agency inputs)
