Keerthi Reddy

HYDERABAD: Chided by her mother for her affairs with boys, a 19-year-old girl student allegedly strangled the 38-year-old woman, Rajitha, to death with the help of her friend at Dwaraka Colony, Hayatnagar, a fortnight ago. Initially, she tried to blame her father for her mom’s disappearance, saying he used to ‘harass’ her. However, a lie nailed her and the chilling details of the gruesome incident came to light. The couple had even spent two days with the body and reportedly got intimate. Police have taken the teenager and her two friends into custody.

Hayathnagar police said as of now the 19-year-old teenager, Keerthi Reddy, a degree second-year student, her boyfriend Bal Reddy and friend Shashi were taken into custody and being questioned.

On October 24, Rajitha’s husband Srinivas Reddy, a lorry driver, returned to their Dwaraka Colony residence and found the house locked. When he tired to reach Rajitha on her mobile phone, he found it switched off. Later, he telephoned his daughter Keerthi , who claimed she was touring Vizag. Srinivas told her that her mother was missing and asked her to return to Hyderabad immediately. She, however, returned on Saturday and lodged a missing complaint.

In the complaint, Keerthi alleged that her father was an alcoholic, used to quarrel with her mother often and would even physically abuse her in an inebriated state.

After the duo returned home, Srinivas questioned Keerthi about her Vizag tour. When she gave inconsistent answers, Srinivas started suspecting Keerthi. Meanwhile, on learning that Rajitha was missing, Keerthi’s boyfriend Bal Reddy’s father, who too resides in Hayatnagar, landed at their residence to meet Srinivas.

“The twist in the case came after Bal Reddy’s father told Srinivas that Keerthi was at their house since Tuesday on Rajitha’s insistence. Realising that Keerthi had lied to him, Srinivas alerted Hayatnagar police,” a source in Rachakonda police said.

On interrogation, Keerthi allegedly spilled the beans and confessed that she and her friend Shashi had killed Rajitha.

On October 19, Rajitha reprimanded her daughter for her affairs. An annoyed Keerthi roped in Shashi, a neighbour. The same night the teenager and Shashi strangulated Rajitha to death with a saree when she was asleep. Till October 22, they stayed in the home with the body and even got intimate on a few occasions, police said.

“As the body started emitting a foul smell, they put it in Shashi’s car, drove to Thummalaguda and dumped it on the railway tracks there to make it appear like an accident,” the source said.

Later, impersonating Rajitha, Keerthi reportedly called up Bal Reddy’s father and informed that she (Rajitha) and Srinivas Reddy were at a hospital in Yadadri and requested him to keep their daughter at their house till they return. While staying at Bal Reddy’s residence, Keerthi told her father that she was in Vizag. When Hayatnagar police verified mobile locations, it showed that she was at Hayatnagar and not Vizag.

When Hayatnagar police contacted the Government Railway Police, they told them that they came across a dismembered woman’s body and had buried it after registering a case under CrPC 174 (suspicious death).

