The investigation into an alleged murder in Hyderabad of a 35-year-old woman by her husband, who claims to have killed her, cooked her body parts, and dumped them in various locations including in the Jillelaguda lake has hit a roadblock with no body part recovered so far.
“We cannot go by mere claims. We are collecting all technical and scientific pieces of evidence. The case is under investigation,” Commissioner of Police G Sudheer Babu told indianexpress.com.
The police are corroborating forensic and technical evidence to establish the claims of Gurumurthy, an ex-serviceman from Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district, about what happened to his wife P Venkata Madhavi, who had earlier been reported missing since January 16.
No arrest has been recorded in the case as of Thursday evening.
As they continue to interrogate Gurumurthy, the Meerpet police believe the murder occurred in a fit of rage and that he did everything possible to avoid the crime being detected.
According to sources, Gurumurthy claimed to have hit her against a wall, leading to her instant death. He used kitchen knives to chop her body into pieces and initially boiled the parts. (Express Photo)
“As of now, we don’t have any reasons to believe it was a premeditated crime. It seems like the result of a petty quarrel. We are questioning the suspect and we have not recovered any body parts. We do not have enough clues,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Ch Praveen Kumar told indianexpress.com in the evening.
According to sources, Gurumurthy claimed to have hit her against a wall, leading to her instant death. He used kitchen knives to chop her body into pieces and initially boiled the parts. He cooked them in a pressure cooker for five to six hours and used a mortar and pestle to grind the bones. The flesh, along with powdered bones, was then thrown into different localities, including the nearby lake.
Senior officials, however, said mere claims cannot be considered as facts.
Madhavi went missing on January 16, and her parents, along with Gurumurthy, approached the Meerpet police with a complaint on January 18. A missing case was registered and an investigation was launched. Gurumurthy told the police that she had left home in a fit of rage after a quarrel erupted between the two on the morning of January 16. During the investigation, the police grew suspicious of the husband and questioned him.
According to the police, Gurumurthy has confessed to having committed the crime on Wednesday and claimed that the body parts were disposed of at different locations. At the time of the incident, the couple’s two children were at Gurumurthy’s sister’s home, the police said.
The police have recovered a pressure cooker, water heater, and knives.
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