The crucial part of the investigation in a case of homicide usually ends with the arrest of the suspect. Strangely, this has been reversed in the sensational case of dermatologist S. Kiran Reddy, Union Minister Jaipal Reddy's niece, whose suspicious death has been turned into murder.
After arresting her husband, S. Chaitanya Reddy, investigators began efforts to collect evidence to prove that he had smothered her to death. This strange situation in the case emerged because suspicions of foul play were not raised initially when the woman was found dead in her house at Jubilee Hills on June 18.
Section altered
A case of unnatural death under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code was registered but the section of law was altered to that of murder the next day following a complaint lodged by the victim's father accusing her husband of foul play. While discussing with forensic doctors, the possible causes of death, police grilled Chaitanya persistently but the latter pleaded innocence.
Three days later, the autopsy report confirmed that the woman died of asphyxia due to smothering. The forensic doctors said the signs found on her body substantiated their finding. Yet the crucial part of ‘who killed her' was not answered though the police arrested Chaitanya based on the report. There were no visible injuries on her face suggesting that she was not smothered by the killer with his hands. Apparently, the killer used a soft object like a pillow, toy or towel. The police recovered only a pillow from the bedroom where the dermatologist was found dead.
No foot or fingerprints of Chaitanya were found in the bedroom. Chances of finding prints on the pillow, which was seized by the police, are remote, experts said. In the absence of material evidence, investigators are struggling to connect the crime and the suspect. How to prove that Chaitanya, who slept in an adjacent room, had entered the bedroom in which his wife slept and killed her is turning out to be a tough question. The allegation by the arrested man that the police had tortured him to extract a confession assumes significance in this background.
The arrest of Chaitanya, a US citizen, who was being grilled for over three days, was announced within hours of the U.S. Consulate authorities seeking a clarification from the police on his detention. This too raised eyebrows.
