The Kakinada police have registered a murder case against Sk. Sadhik Khan, founder of the PRO Rifle Shooting Academy in the city, on the allegation that he poisoned Jagadeesh Reddy to death on July 2. He is absconding.

The allegation surfaced during the Kakinada police’s preliminary inquiry into the incident of August 16, in which a four-member family, including Pithapuram Panchayat Raj Assistant Engineer K. Nooka Raju, jumped into the Godavari at Rajamahendravaram.

That inquiry began with a note said to have been written by Mr. Nooka Raju and left in the family’s car, in which he set out the harassment and threats his family had suffered at the hands of Sadhik Khan.

A note dated August 16, said to have been left by Mr. Nooka Raju, alleges that Sk. Sadhik Khan of Kakinada, who runs the PRO Rifle Shooting Academy, had been harassing his daughter, Ms. Sowjanya, 38, since the death of her husband, Jagadeesh Reddy. The note is addressed to the Kakinada District Collector and Superintendent of Police, and The Hindu has a copy.

Murder case

Eluru Range Inspector General G.V.G. Ashok Kumar told The Hindu on Tuesday (August 18, 2026): “The allegation that Sk. Sadhik Khan had poisoned Mr. Jagadeesh Reddy to death is being probed based on the preliminary probe and the suicide letter left behind by Mr. Nooka Raju. Special teams have been constituted to nab Mr. Sadhik Khan.”

Kakinada Superintendent of Police G. Bindu Madhav told The Hindu: “A murder case has been registered against Mr. Sadhik Khan under Section 103 of the BNS, and the accused is still absconding.” The case is registered at the Sarpavaram police station.

In Rajamahendravaram, a case of abetment of suicide under Section 108 of the BNS has been registered against Sadhik Khan on the strength of the grandson’s statement and the note, South Division DSP A. Siva Priya said.

Search resumes

“The local police and State Disaster Response Force resumed the search operation on Tuesday to trace Mr. Nooka Raju’s wife Meena, 58, and their 38-year-old daughter Sowjanya,” Ms. Siva Priya told The Hindu. Mr. Nooka Raju’s body was recovered on Monday evening; his 10-year-old grandson was rescued by fisherfolk.

What happened on the bridge

Late on Sunday, August 16, the family drove to the road-cum-rail bridge in Rajamahendravaram. A man crossing it by road called the police at 11.32 p.m. Fisherfolk from the island in the river found the boy unconscious there and brought him out; he is in hospital and out of danger. Mr. Nooka Raju’s body was found on Monday (August 17, 2026) evening, and the search for the two women ran until 7 p.m. that day.

In the note, Mr. Nooka Raju wrote that Sadhik Khan “has been behind my daughter, promising to take care of her”, had threatened to “eliminate my grandson and me” when the family refused him, and had taken their bank books and valuables by threat. The note is to go to a forensic laboratory.

Published - August 18, 2026 03:13 pm IST