A local court on Monday (September 8, 2026) has granted three days of police custody of 26-year-old Sk. Sadhik Khan to the Kakinada police for further investigation into the deaths of the family of Pithapuram Assistant Engineer K. Nooka Raju. Sadhik Khan was arrested in Meerut in Uttar Pradesh on August 21.

On August 16, Mr. Nooka Raju, his wife Meena, daughter Soujanya and 10-year-old grandson jumped into the Godavari from the road-cum-rail bridge in Rajamahendravaram. The grandson survived.

Kakinada District Assistant Superintendent of Police and in-charge DSP M. Kishore Kumar told The Hindu: “The local court has given Mr. Sadhik Khan to police custody for the probe into the suicide pact by Mr. Nooka Raju’s family. Mr. Sadhik Khan will be in our custody till September 10.”

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On August 24, Sadhik Khan was sent to judicial remand after he was produced before the Special Mobile Judicial First Class Magistrate’s Court.

The three-day custody aims at examining the alleged role of Sadhik Khan in the death of Soujanya’s husband, Jagadeeswara Reddy.

On July 17, the Sarpavaram police registered a case against Sadhik Khan under Sections 103(1), 127(3), 108 and 299 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), based on a note purportedly left by Soujanya. Her father-in-law lodged a written complaint after finding the note in her two-wheeler in Kakinada.

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What happened

On the night of August 16, Mr. Nooka Raju, his wife Meena, daughter Soujanya and 10-year-old grandson jumped into the Godavari from the road-cum-rail bridge in Rajamahendravaram. Fisherfolk found the boy alive on an island in the river the next morning. Mr. Nooka Raju’s body was recovered that evening and his wife’s on August 22, about 30 km downstream. A note in the family’s car accused Sadhik Khan, who runs the Pro Rifle Shooting Academy, of harassing Soujanya after her husband’s death, threatening the family and taking their bank accounts and valuables.

The Sarpavaram police registered a case of abetment against him on August 17. He was arrested at Meerut in Uttar Pradesh on the night of August 21 and remanded in judicial custody on August 24.

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