Husband arrested for murder of Reddy’s niece

Dr Chaitanya Reddy was arrested for the murder of Dr Kiran Reddy, his wife and the niece of Union petroleum minister S Jaipal Reddy, in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Dr Chaitanya Reddy was arrested for the murder of Dr Kiran Reddy, his wife and the niece of Union petroleum minister S Jaipal Reddy, in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

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Chaitanya has confessed to smothering Kiran, 26, with a pillow after a fight on Friday night, said Stephen Ravindra, deputy commissioner of police (west). Postmortem corroborated that she had been asphyxiated. Chaitanya, who denied the charge, was remanded in judicial custody for two weeks.

Kiran was found unconscious at her home in the posh Jubilee Hills area of Hyderabad on Saturday morning. She was declared dead on arrival at the nearby Apollo Hospital.

Chaitanya, Ravindra said, had a history of short temper and aggression.

On Friday evening, the couple had gone to a pub to attend a party organised by Kiran’s brother. “There, after drinking a huge quantity of alcohol, he had a fight with the pub manager and used abusive language,” said Ravindra.

On their way home, Kiran and Chaitanya had a bitter argument after she questioned his behaviour. The argument continued even after they reached home and in a fit of rage, Chaitanya pushed Kiran on her bed and smothered her with a pillow, Ravindra said.

Chaitanya said the police was framing him for the murder. "For the last four days, they kept me in custody, interrogated me and tortured me. They are forcing me to confess to a crime I haven't committed," he said.

The police had registered a murder case after Kiran’s father Raghottamma Reddy complained that his daughter died an unnatural death and alleged that her husband was responsible.

Kiran, a dermatologist, was the daughter Jaipal Reddy’s elder sister Bharati. She had married Chaitanya five years ago. The couple has a four-year-old daughter. Chaitanya was a businessman, while Kiran worked at a private hospital.