Telangana woman, boyfriend held for her sister’s murder
The police said the accused – Banka Chandana and Omar Shaik Sultan – were arrested by the police at Armoor-Balkonda road in Nizamabad district, while they were on their way to Nagpur
The police in Telangana’s Jagitial district on Saturday arrested a 20-year-old woman and her boyfriend (25) for allegedly murdering her 22-year-old elder sister at Korutla town on the night of August 28, officials familiar with the matter said, adding that the couple was absconding since then.
Disclosing this to reporters, Jagitial superintendent of police (SP) Aggadi Bhaskar said the accused – Banka Chandana and Omar Shaik Sultan – were arrested by the police at Armoor-Balkonda road in Nizamabad district, while they were on their way to Nagpur.
Bhaskar said Chandana’s sister – Deepti, a software engineer working in a multinational company in Hyderabad, was found dead under suspicious circumstances at her residence in Korutla town, where she was working from home.
The victim’s parents, who were in Hyderabad to attend a family function, did not get any response when they tried to call her and asked the neighbours to check. The neighbours noticed the techie’s body lying on a sofa in a room and alerted the police.
“Some liquor bottles were found in the house and there were scuffle marks on the body of the deceased,” he said, adding that ₹2 lakh cash and some gold ornaments were also missing from the house.
Investigations by the police, who went through CCTV footage, revealed that Chandana had left the house with a man on the same night. The girl’s father, who lodged a complaint with the police, expressed suspicion over the younger sister who had gone missing since then.
“Her [the victim’s] brother, who is presently working in Bengaluru, received an audio message on his mobile from Chandana saying that she was not aware of the murder. She [Chandana] told him that she had gone out after consuming liquor along with Deepti, who went asleep later. She [Chandana], however, did not say where she was and why she was missing,” the police official said.
Bhaskar said on questioning Chandana, it was revealed that she had killed Deepti who had objected to her relationship with Sultan. “On the night of August 28, Sultan came to their residence in Korutla to talk to Deepti about his affair with Chandana and they had an argument over the issue. Chandana served liquor to Deepti and when the latter fell asleep, she and Sultan broke open the almirah and stole cash and gold from it,” the SP said.
When Deepti woke up and tried to raise an alarm, Chandana and Sultan strangled her with her scarf and later closed her mouth and nose with a plaster. “Within 10 minutes, Deepti died of suffocation. Later, Chadana and Sultan removed the plaster from her mouth left the place with cash and gold,” he added.
Korutla police, which initially registered a case of suspicious death, changed it to murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Further investigation is on, the SP added.
