Godavari family death: court gives police three days in custody of Sadhik Khan
Superintendent of Police G. Bindhu Madhav addressing the media in Kakinada. File | Photo credit: Special arrangement
On Monday (September 8, 2026), the local court granted three days of police custody to 26-year-old Sk. Sadhik Khan to the Kakinada Police to further investigate the death of the Pithapuram family of Assistant Engineer K. Nook Raju. Sadhik Khan was arrested in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh on 21 August.
On August 16, Mr. Nooka Raju, his wife Meena, daughter Soujanya and 10-year-old grandson jumped into the Godavari from the road-rail bridge at Rajamahendravaram. A grandson survived.
Kakinada District Deputy Superintendent of Police and in-charge DSP M. Kishore Kumar told The Hindu: “The local court has remanded Mr. Sadhik Khan in police custody to investigate his alleged role in the suicide death of Mr. Nook Raju’s family. He will be in our custody till September 10.”
On August 24, Sadhik Khan was sent to judicial custody after being produced before a special mobile first class judicial court.
The three-day remand is aimed at probing Sadhik Khan’s alleged role in the death of Soujany’s husband, Jagadeeswar Reddy.
On July 17, the Sarpavaram police registered a case against Sadhik Khan under sections 103(1), 127(3), 108 and 299 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), based on a note allegedly left by Soujanya. Her father-in-law filed a written complaint after finding the note in her two-wheeler in Kakinada.
What happened
On the night of August 16, Mr. Nooka Raju, his wife Meena, daughter Soujanya and 10-year-old grandson jumped into the Godavari from the road and rail bridge at Rajamahendravaram. Fisherfolk found the boy alive on an island in the river the next morning. Mr. Nook Raju’s body was found that evening and that of his wife on August 22, about 30 km downstream. A note in the family car accused Sadhik Khan, who runs a professional shooting academy, of harassing Soujanya, threatening the family and taking their bank accounts and valuables after her husband’s death.
The Sarpavaram police registered a case of hazing against him on August 17. He was arrested in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh on the night of August 21 and remanded in judicial custody on August 24.
Published – 8 Sep 2026 1:30 PM IST