The latest claims made by a highly-educated
couple from Andhra Pradesh, arrested for killing their young daughters allegedly believing
they will be resurrected later, have raised further questions on their state of mind.

Videos of the couple in conversation with the police have surfaced recently, where they make delusional claims like having received “god’s message” about the end of “kalyuga” and the arrival of “satyuga”.

“I am Shiva,
it is from my body that corona came, not from China,” Padmaja Naidu, who struck
the killing blows on her daughters, said about the coronavirus pandemic as health workers attempted to take swabs for a COVID-19 test on
Tuesday, according to a media reports.

Her
husband, Malluru Purushottam is accused to have aided in what is being considered
as an elaborate ritual, which was allegedly supposed to rid the daughters of evil
spirits and let them be resurrected later.

On Sunday,
January 24, the couple bludgeoned their daughters – Alekhya (27) and Sai Divya
(22) – to death with a dumbbell and a trident at their home in Shiva Nagar on the
outskirts of Chittor district’s Madanapalle.

Police said
the couple “appeared to be in a state of trance and were suffering from psychological
issues”, adding that enquiries with locals revealed that the family was highly spiritual and regularly performed pujas at their home during the COVID-19
pandemic.

The couple is
highly educated, with Padmaja being a gold medallist in mathematics, who runs a
private college, and Purushottam a PhD in Chemistry and the vice principal of
the Madanapalle government women’s degree college.

Police are currently investigating the case.