Snehalatha’s body was found in an isolated field on the outskirts of Dharmavaram.
Hyderabad:
A 19-year-old contract employee of the State Bank of India was allegedly killed by her ex-boyfriend, who later set her body on fire in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, police said. The accused, who has been arrested, would have murdered the woman because of her relationship with another man, they added.
According to the police, Snehalatha had a relationship with the defendant, Gooty Rajesh, who worked as a bricklayer, but had reportedly become estranged after landing a job at the bank. She later became friends with her classmate in college, and this allegedly enraged Rajesh, who later devised a plan to kill her. Call logs revealed that the defendant and the victim spoke 1,618 times in the past year, police added.
On Tuesday, the defendant called Snehalatha for a meeting and strangled her during an argument about her friendship with her classmate, police said.
“On the way to Ananthapuramu, Gooty Rajesh (the defendant) stopped the bicycle near an agricultural field in Badanapalli and began to question her about her intimacy with Praveen. This resulted in an argument and eventually strangled her to death and, to hide the identity , he burned his bank papers that he carried with him and put them on his body, so his body was partially burned. There was no sexual assault or sexual intercourse, “said SP Bhusarapu Sathya Yesu Babu.
Police were alerted to the incident after the woman’s family filed a complaint after she failed to return home. Snehalatha’s body was found in an isolated field on the outskirts of Dharmavaram.
The woman’s family during the investigation told police that Rajesh used to stalk the victim. The mother had also named Karthik, Rajesh’s friend, as a co-conspirator. The police are investigating his possible role in the crime.
Based on the information, Rajesh was picked up for questioning and later confessed to the crime, the police officer added.
During the course of the investigation, the main defendant Gooty Rajesh was arrested, confessed guilt and also recovered the victim’s mobile phone that was hidden from him. The CDR’s analysis revealed that the girl and the defendant were in close contact with each other and 1618 call transactions had taken place between them for a year, “he added.
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