Padmaja Naidu, who along with her husband killed their two daughters as part of a ritual, believes that coronavirus originated from her. The Andhra couple allegedly killed their daughters on Sunday to ‘rid them of evil spirits’, believing they would both come to life.

“I am Shiva. My body gave birth to corona. I have venom in my thoughts so need to test me for coronavirus. It will end in March without the use of the vaccine. There is no need for a vaccine,” the 50-year-old told a healthcare worker who had come to take her swab for COVID test on Wednesday.

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Her husband, Malluru Purushottam is accused of aiding her in killing their daughters — Alekhya (27) and Sai Divya (23) — in an elaborate ritual. The couple’s statements to the police have been largely delusional, putting a question mark on their mental state.

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

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.

On Sunday, January 24, they bludgeoned their daughters 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.