Lifer for Indian who killed compatriot in UK

An Indian national has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of the murder of a fellow student from Andhra Pradesh in Birmingham.

An Indian national has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of the murder of a fellow student from Andhra Pradesh in Birmingham.

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The accused Nagaraja Kumar Nalluri was found critically injured in a private accommodation where Vijaywada-born Samrajya Jyothirmai Vempala, 23, died after sustaining severe head injuries on May six in Handsworth, a suburb of Birmingham.

Nalluri was sentenced by the Birmingham Crown Court to life imprisonment and as per the order, he must serve a minimum of 25 years before being considered for parole.

Nalluri, 25, who denied murdering Jyothirmai, had claimed that a masked intruder had forced his way into the house and attacked two of them, according to a report in the 'Birmingham Evening Mail'.

Judge Melbourne Inman said: "On the evidence before the jury you struck her at least 12 times to the head. Undoubtedly many more blows were struck against her."

Nalluri took a photo of the victim when she was either dead or dying as well as carrying out a sexual assault on her, the judge said adding that the sexual assault increased the depravity of the killing.

Prosecutor Michael Burrows said both the 23-year-old victim and the defendant had trained together in India before coming to the UK in September 2007 for Masters Degree in health studies at the Wolverhampton University.