The parents believed their daughters were possessed by evil spirits, could be brought back to life
A "highly educated" Indian couple killed their two daughters, requesting police later to give them a day as they believed they could revive them, according to Indian media reports.
Two young women, both sisters, were allegedly killed by their parents in their Andhra Pradesh home on Sunday, in what the police suspect could be a murder linked to an occult.
Police said that they were initially denied entry into the house when neighbours called and informed them that something was wrong. barging into the house, police found Alekhya (27) and Sai Divya (23) lying on the floor in a pool of blood in red saris.
Their heads had been bashed in as the couple had allegedly murdered them using dumbbells.
Neighbours told police that the parents had been involved in a ritual before the murders, adding that the couple believed their daughters were possessed by evil spirits.
The neighbours further revealed that the girls were made to circle the house as part of some ritual before they were bludgeoned to death.
"The scene of crime suggests some rituals were carried out; the women were clad in a red saree and the parents appeared to be highly delusional," police officer Ravi Manohara Chary told an Indian TV channel.
"There were only four people in the house, the husband, wife and their two daughters. There are CCTV cameras here, so we will analyse it. From what they are saying, they went away spiritually into another zone, they told us, give one day's time, we will bring them back to life.''
The parents, Valleru Purushottam Naidu and Padmaja, are both in their 50s and have been arrested. Chary said that Naidu is a professor of chemistry and vice-principal of the Government Girls' Degree College in Madanapalle while Padmaja is a postgraduate in mathematics.
Alekhya, one of the girls who was killed, was preparing for the civil services exam. Her sister Sai Divya was a graduate and was pursuing music at an institute.