The police on Saturday, in the case of the mysterious death of techie Deepthi, arrested her sister Chandana and four others, including Chandana’s boyfriend, for allegedly murdering Deepthi and stealing valuables from the house as they eloped.
Gold ornaments weighing 70 tolas, Rs 1 lakh cash, five mobile phones and a car were recovered from the accused in Jagtial.
Addressing the media, SP A. Bhaskar identified the accused as Chandana (22), her boyfriend Umar Sheikh Sultan (25), his mother Syed Alia Mahaboob, sister Sheikh Asia Fathima and friend Hafeez, all residents of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh.
The police said that Chandana and Umar met during her engineering studies and fell in love, but Chandana’s father, B. Srinivas Reddy, of Korutla, disapproved of their relationship.
After learning that her parents would be going to Hyderabad, Chandana and Umar planned to steal gold and money from her house.
On August 28, Chandana is alleged to have forced Deepthi to consume alcohol and put her to sleep, following which they started burgling the house. But Deepthi woke up due to the noises and tried to raise the alarm, when Chandana and Umar tied her hands and closed her mouth and nose with tape.
Unable to breathe, Deepthi died of suffocation, the police said.
To misguide the police, Umar’s friend Hafeez took his sister Shaik Fathima, who was dressed like Chandana, on a bike and boarded a bus to Nizamabad, as recorded by CCTV cameras.
DCP Ravinder Reddy of Metpally and his team deployed technical analysis and arrested the five when they were trying to escape towards Maharashtra, the police said.
