Hyderabad: A 21-year-old engineering student allegedly murdered his friend suspecting that the latter was getting closer to a girl who was also pursuing engineering. The incident occurred at Abdullapurmet on February 17 and came to light late on Friday after the suspect surrendered to police.
The victim, Naveen, 22, who was pursuing B-Tech (EEE) at a college in Nalgonda district, was known to the suspect, Harihara Krishna, since intermediate college days. Naveen stayed at a hostel in Narketpally while Krishna is staying at Moosrambagh in the city and is a native of Warangal district.
According to police, both were friends since their intermediate college days and knew the girl for last few years. “At one point of time, Krishna began suspecting that Naveen was getting closer to her and turned apprehensive. He planned to eliminate Naveen. On the pretext of a party, he called Naveen to a friend’s room at Abdullapurmet. Both of them consumed liquor in the house later on pretext of dropping him home, Krishna took Naveen to an isolated spot at Abdullapurmet and stabbed him to death,” Vanasthalipuram ACP K Purushotham Reddy said.
He added that the two also had an argument in the room and Naveen had called his father Shankaraiah informing him about it. Shankaraiah spoke to Krishna and pacified him.
Naveen’s parents lodged a missing complaint at the Narketpally police station on February 22, as he had not returned home after meeting Krishna. Their efforts to seek help from Krishna, who was known to them, did not yield any result.
While police began looking for Naveen, they got hints that Krishna might know something. But Krishna continued to remain elusive till Friday evening, when he surrendered to the Abdullapurmet police and admitted to killing Naveen. The Narketpally police, along with the Abdullapurmet police, found the body at an isolated place on the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway.
Sources said after killing Naveen, the suspect went to the house of a friend and stayed there for two days. He later met the girl who told him to surrender before the police. Meanwhile, police have denied reports that Krishna chopped the body into pieces and sent the pictures to the girl. Further investigation is under way.