Man sentenced to death for killing six persons over land dispute

 

By Sumesh Rajan | 30 June 2025

Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA: In a landmark judgment, the Fourth Additional District and Sessions Court in Visakhapatnam on Friday 27 June 2025, sentenced 50-year-old Battina Appalaraju to death for the brutal murder of six members of his neighbour’s family, including two children, in April 2021. Terming it a case of “extreme brutality,” the court observed that the killings were carried out in cold blood over a longstanding personal and property-related grudge.

The gruesome incident occurred in the early hours of April 15, 2021, at Juttada village under Pendurthi police station limits. Armed with a hunting scythe, Appalaraju stormed into the home of his neighbour, Bamidi Vijay Kiran, and hacked to death six family members who were asleep at the time.

The victims were identified as Vijay Kiran’s father Bamidi Ramana (61), wife Bamidi Usha Rani (31), son B. Uday Nandan (3), daughter B. Lishitha (six months), Usha Rani’s mother Allu Ramadevi (47), and a relative, Nakettlu Aruna (46). Vijay Kiran and his elder son survived the carnage as they were not present at the house when the murders took place.

Judge M Nageswara Rao, who presided over the trial, convicted Appalaraju under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code and awarded the capital punishment, stating the crime shocked the collective conscience of society. The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on the convict and handed down additional rigorous imprisonment of up to seven years under related IPC provisions.

According to Additional Public Prosecutor Metta Khajana Rao, the motive behind the massacre stemmed from a long-standing enmity between the two families. The feud reportedly began in 2018 when Appalaraju objected to his daughter Parvathi’s close relationship with Vijay Kiran. Feeling insulted, he lodged a police complaint against Kiran. Relations between the families soured further, prompting Vijay Kiran to move to Vijayawada.

In April 2021, Kiran and his family returned to Juttada to attend a relative’s wedding scheduled for May 13. Appalaraju, aware of their return, seized the opportunity to exact revenge. On April 15, he executed the planned attack while the family members were asleep.

Following the murders, Appalaraju surrendered at the local police station. The court remarked that the premeditated nature of the crime, coupled with the killing of innocent children, warranted the harshest possible punishment under law