The kidnap of seven-year-old Surada Deepti Sree in the town ended up in tragedy with the police tracing the girl’s body in Upputeru drain here on Monday. The girl was kidnapped on November 22.
Police arrested Deepthi’s stepmother S. Santha Kumari, who reportedly confessed to the crime. Police are investigating whether more persons are involved in the crime or abetted it.
Expert swimmers and police, who had been searching for the girl for the last two days, retrieved the body near Indrapalem Lakulu, in Upputeru drain, packed in a sack.
Superintendent of Police Adnan Nayeem Asmi, who visited the spot, said Santha Kumari had kidnapped Deepti Sree on Friday afternoon, strangled her and dumped the body in the canal. The reason for the brutal killing was ‘jealousy’, the SP told the media.
“The girl’s father, Surada Satya Shyam Kumar married one Satyaveni a few years ago and the couple had Deepti Sree. Satyaveni died due to ill-health a couple of years ago and Shyam Kumar married Santha Kumari and they had a boy, who is 13 months now,” Mr. Nayeem said.
Disputes grew between the couple after Santha Kumari gave birth to the boy and she was reportedly ill-treating Deepti Sree for a few months. Hearing about his daughter’s torture by the stepmother, Shyam Kumar, shifted the girl to her grandmother. Santha Kumari reportedly did not like her husband giving money to his mother to take care of Deepti Sree.
“The girl’s father was giving ₹8,000 to his mother S. Baby, to look after Deepti Sree, every month. There was an argument between Shyam Kumar and Santha Kumari over phone on the issue at around 11 a.m. on Friday. Father is very fond of the girl and take care of Deepti Sree well, which the stepmother disliked,” the SP said.
On November 22, at 1.30 p.m, Santha Kumari picked up Deepti Sree from Netaji Municipal Corporation School, where she was studying. She took the girl to her house, strangled the child with a towel from behind, and stuffed the body in a sack.
Movements recorded
Later, she travelled in two autorickshaws and reached Upputeru canal. She threw the gunny bag in the canal and returned home. All her movements were captured in the CCTVs from the school to the canal.
She pretended innocence and searched for the girl along with other family members till evening. The CCTV footages helped the police a lot in detecting the case, Mr. Nayeem said.
The body was shifted to the Government General Hospital for post-mortem. A case under Sections. 363 (kidnap), 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of the offence) has been registered against the accused, the SP added.
