Sister, boyfriend arrested for Hyderabad techie’s murder in Jagtial

The murder case of Banka Deepthi, a techie working in Hyderabad was found dead in her home in Korutla of Jagtial was solved with the police arresting five persons

Jagtial: The murder case of Banka Deepthi, a techie working in Hyderabad was found dead in her home in Korutla of Jagtial was solved with the police arresting five persons, including Deepthi’s younger sister Chandana and her boyfriend Umar Sheik Sultan.

Deepthi was found dead at their home in Korutla on August 29. According to Jagtial SP A Bhaskar, Chandana, who pursued her B.Tech in a private college in Hyderabad was in love with her classmate Umar Sheik, a native of Nellore of Andhra Pradesh presently staying in Hyderabad.

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After completion of the engineering course, she was staying at home, with Umar Sheik visiting Korutla to meet her in between. When they met on August 19, she asked him to marry and take her away from home since her parents would not accept their marriage. When he raised doubts over leading a life without a job and money, Chandana convinced him and also spoke with his family, including his mother Syed Alia Mahaboob, his sister Fathima and also his friend Hafiz over a WhatsApp call.

After two days, Chandana informed Umer Sheik that a huge amount of cash and gold were available in her home and convinced him that they could lead a comfortable life with that. On August 28, when her parents went to Hyderabad, Chandana called Umer Sheik to reach Korutla to pick her up. According to their plan, Chandana served liquor to Deepthi, who fell asleep. Chandana then called Umer Sheik in around 2 am.

While they were taking the gold and cash, Deepthi woke up and shouted at Chandana asking her what they were doing. Both Chandana and Umar then gagged Deepthi with a plaster besides tying her hands with a scarf. She died of asphyxiation, after which they removed the plaster and scarf to make it seem that she had died after drinking liquor. They then fled with the gold and cash.

Based on a complaint by their father Srinivas Reddy, police began investigation by forming five special teams under the supervision of Metpalli DSP Ravinder Reddy. The teams caught up with the accused at a dhaba between Armoor-Balkonda of Nizamabad district while they were trying to go to Maharashtra. Besides Chandana and Umer Sheik, his mother, sister and friend too were arrested.

Jewellery including gold waistbands, necklaces, bangles, bracelets and cash of Rs 1 lakh were recovered from them. The SP appreciated DSP Ravinder Reddy, Korutla CI Praveen Kumar, SIs Kiran (Korutla), Chiranjeevi (Medipalli), Kiran (Kathalapur) and constables Purushotham and Srinu Nayak for cracking the case within three days of the murder.