T Maruthi Rao, the main accused in the brutal caste killing of 24-year-old Perumalla Pranay, was denied bail by a special court in Telangana's Nalgonda district on Friday. Pranay's father, Balaswamy, and his wife, Amrutha, had appeared in court for the hearing.

Amrutha opposed bail to Maruthi Rao, her father, stating that there might be danger to her life if he was released on bail. She also expressed apprehensions that he might tamper with evidence, according to media reports.

The public prosecutor appearing for the Telangana government had also opposed the bail petitions, which had been filed by all accused in the case, which included Maruthi Rao, Asgar Ali, Mohammed Abul Bari, T Shravan and S Shiva

Pranay, a Dalit, was hacked to death in September this year as he was coming out of a hospital in Miryalguda town of Nalgonda district along with his wife Amrutha, with whom he had an inter-caste marriage. Amrutha and Pranay had married in January this year against the wishes of her father Maruthi Rao, a businessman who comes from an upper caste.

The police said that it was a clear case of caste killing and stated that Maruthi Rao struck the deal to kill his son-in-law for Rs 1 crore. Two of the accused, Asgar Ali and Mohammed Abul Bari, were earlier arrested and acquitted in the murder of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya. The deal was struck for Rs 1 crore though Asgar and Bari had demanded Rs 2.5 crore. Maruthi Rao had paid Rs 15 lakh advance.

The police identified the killer as Subhash Sharma, a native of Bihar, whom Bari had met in Rajahmundry Central Jail.

"In the meantime, when Amrutha became pregnant, his father tried to pressurise her to abort because he was afraid that if Pranay is killed and a child is born to her daughter, it will lead to more problems. She, however, refused to abort," Nalgonda Superintendent of Police A V Ranganath had told reporters earlier.

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Agencies