Woman murdered, legs severed for anklets

Shankaramma, along with her three children, was in her scrap shop on the outskirts of Kokapet when robbers knocked on the door around 2.30 a.m.

Two youngsters murdered a scrap dealer’s wife in the presence of her eight-year-old son and took away gold and silver ornaments she wore, at Kokapet of Narsingi in the early hours of Tuesday.

So brutal was the killing that the robbers severed her legs by crushing them with boulders to collect the silver anklets. Shankaramma (26), along with her three children, was in her scrap shop located at an isolated place on the outskirts of Kokapet when the two knocked on the door around 2.30 a.m.

“It was a planned murder for gain. The same youngsters had approached the woman on Monday afternoon, saying that they would come late in the night to sell some scrap,” the Narsingi police said. Since they had already met her the previous day, the women opened the door.

They barged inside and threatened to kill the woman if she raised alarm. When her son woke up, they asked him to remain calm and dragged the woman outside into the bushes some 200 yards away.

“The scared boy watched helplessly his mother being whisked away. The boy said he would identify the killers if he sees them again,” investigators said.

The robbers snatched the victim’s mangalsutra made of 15 grams of gold. They smashed her head with a boulder before severing the legs.

They also took a pouch containing Rs. 20,000 from the woman.

The victim’s husband, Balaiah, was away when the crime was committed.