The Hindu : Front Page : Upcoming actress Bhargavi ‘murdered’

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Wednesday, Dec 17, 2008
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Upcoming actress Bhargavi ‘murdered’

Staff Reporter

Body of an orchestra troupe operator found beside her body

Suicide note states disturbances in personal life
Police believe Kumar stabbed Bhargavi to death

– Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar

TOTALLY UNEXPECTED: A movie still of Bhargavi (file photo). Right: Family members of the actress leave for Hyderabad from Guntur on Tuesday.

HYDERABAD: An upcoming actress, Bhargavi, was found murdered in her house at Banjara Hills here on Tuesday even as another body of an orchestra troupe operator, Praveen Kumar, lying next to her, triggered speculation about the motive behind the deaths.

While a note purportedly written by Kumar stated that disturbances in personal life drove them to suicide, police believe he stabbed her to death before ending his life by consuming cyanide. A blood-stained dagger, some cyanide powder packed in paper and the suicide note were recovered from the room.

There were deep knife wounds on her body, one near left shoulder and another on the left side of abdomen. The other five wounds were not so deep, police said. The room was not in disarray to indicate a struggle, but the mattress was completely soaked with blood.

Bhargavi who lived in a rented house at Venkateswaranagar had shifted to the third-floor portion of another building in the adjacent lane two months ago.

The house owner, Dastagiramma, told the police that though Bhargavi and her mother visited the house before occupying it, Kumar who identified himself as her maternal uncle had paid the rent advance. He used to drop in now and then.

The actress returned from a trip to Gorantla, her native village in Guntur district on Monday, and was to attend shooting of a new film on Tuesday morning. The film unit sent a car to her house with driver Ramesh, who waited outside the house from 6 a.m. As the actress did not turn up, film unit members Srikanth and Prashant drove to her place.

“With none responding to repeated calls, they pushed open the door and found Bhargavi and Kumar lying dead,” Banjara Hills ACP V. Ramakrishnaiah said. Clad in a pair of jeans and red top, the actress was lying on her back on the cot with seven knife wounds. Kumar’s body lay beside her with his head resting on her lap.

Soft drink spilt on the floor and blue-tinged nails of Kumar led police to believe he may have mixed cyanide in that drink before gulping it. They believe the actress was murdered after 6.30 a.m. as she took a call on her mobile before that and was about to leave for the film shoot.

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