Pranay murder case convict Abdul Bari dies after chest pain in Cherlapally jail

A convict serving a life sentence in the 2018 murder of Pranay Kumar in Miryalaguda died on Thursday after complaining of chest pain at Cherlapally jail, officials said.

Abdul Bari, arraigned as accused number four in the case, was moved from the prison to Gandhi Hospital after he reported the discomfort. He died while undergoing treatment. The body has been kept at the hospital for a postmortem examination.

Bari was a resident of Pyarasabhag Colony in Nalgonda. In March 2025, a Nalgonda court sentenced him and five others to life imprisonment in the case. The court handed the death penalty to Subash Kumar Sharma, the contract killer.

Pranay was hacked to death outside a private hospital in Miryalaguda on September 14, 2018, shortly after his inter-caste marriage to Amrutha Varshini, which had taken place against her family's wishes.

Investigators alleged that Amrutha's father, T. Maruthi Rao, had arranged the killing. According to the chargesheet, Rao reached out to Bari through Abdul Kareem, after which Bari and Asghar Ali allegedly helped arrange a contract killer. The deal was eventually settled at ₹1 crore.

Maruthi Rao, the prime accused, died by suicide at a guesthouse in Khairatabad on March 8, 2020, while the trial was pending. Police recovered a purported suicide note addressed to Amrutha.

The trial proceeded against the remaining accused and concluded with the March 2025 verdict.