The death of a man in what appeared to be a car accident near Vanasthalipuram on Sunday turned out to be a pre-planned murder, shockingly by a man hired by the victim’s wife.

By | Published: 11:26 pm 12:03 am

Hyderabad: The death of a man in what appeared to be a car accident near Vanasthalipuram on Sunday turned out to be a pre-planned murder, shockingly by a man hired by the victim’s wife.

According to the police, a call from one driver, S Vinod, had come to the Dial 100 on Sunday morning, saying he was involved in an accident at Injapuram near Vanasthalipuram and that his employer, K Keshiya Naik (43), was killed in the accident.

The police found that the car Vinod was driving had rammed an electric pole, with Naik found dead inside the car. All seemed to be normal till the autopsy report came on Monday, stating that Naik had no injuries in the accident but that there were strangulation marks on his neck.

Vinod too had not suffered any injuries. The police thus began investigating other angles during which they examined Vinod’s call data records too. Data which showed frequent calls to Naik’s wife Padma, and subsequent questioning brought the truth out — Vinod was hired by Padma to bump off Naik, for which he was promised Rs 10 lakh.

Naik, the police said, was a Postal department employee at Medak and used to visit his home in Bhawanipuram colony, Vanasthalipuram, on weekends.

Padma had filed a case against Naik at a local court in Nalgonda district six years ago stating that he had married another woman and that he was harassing her. Both were living separately since then, said Gandhi Narayana, ACP, Vanasthalipuram.

The police said Padma, after coming to know that Naik had an insurance policy of Rs 50 lakh on his name, promised Rs 10 lakh from that to Vinod, paid him an advance of Rs 15,000 and got him contracted to kill Naik.

On Sunday, Vinod picked up Naik from LB Nagar and took him to a bar in Gurramguda and after getting him drunk drove towards Injapur. There, he sat on the rear seat near Naik and allegedly strangulated him to death. He then rammed the vehicle into the electric pole and dialed 100.

Both Padma and Vinod have been arrested.