Telangana youth kidnapped, killed by wife’s family, 14 people arrested

“My father, uncles and other family members brutally killed my husband. I will never forgive them.”

Hemanth’s wife, Avanti Reddy (centre) and his parents waiting outside the Osmania General Hospital.

In a suspected case of honour killing, a 28-year-old interior designer was allegedly kidnapped and killed by his wife’s family with the help of hired assassins on Thursday at Sadasivpet of Sangareddy district in Telangana.

Fourteen people, including the girl’s parents, maternal uncles, cousin, and aunts, were arrested by the Gachibowli police in connection with the case, while four others are at large.

The youth, Chinta Yoga Hemanth Kumar from the Vysya community, fell in love with D. Avanthi Reddy 23, around four years ago.

On June 11, they got married at the Sub-Registrar office, Quthbullapur in Hyderabad, against the wishes of her family.

Avanthi’s father D. Laxma Reddy had then filed a missing complaint at the Chandanagar police station. Later, the couple met Cyberabad Commissioner of Police V.C. Sajjanar and informed him about the marriage and both families were counselled, Madhapur in-charge DCP M. Venkateshwarlu said.

Hemnath along with his spouse Avanthi Reddy. Special Arrangement.

 

After their marriage, the young couple started living in a rented house at TNGO’s Colony, Gachibowli, while their parents were staying in Chandanagar.

Annoyed by the marriage, Avanthi’s parents Laxma Reddy and Archana, along with her maternal uncle Guduru Yugandhar Reddy decided to eliminate Hemanth, Deputy Commissioner of Police Venkateshwarlu said.

Yugandhar told Laxma Reddy that it would cost ₹10 lakh to hire assassins, for which the latter agreed and paid ₹1 lakh in advance, he said. Yugandhar, who was familiar with the area, approached M. Buchi Yadav, Yerkala Krishna and Mohammed Pasha and plotted the murder, the officer said.

As per their plan, on Thursday afternoon, Yugandhar along with Vijayender, cousin Ranjith and a few women from the family, who were unaware of the plan, visited her house.

“Around 2.30 p.m., Hemanth phoned his parents informing them about the sudden visit of her relatives and asked them to come to his house at the earliest,” Mr. Venkateshwarlu told The Hindu.

By the time Hemanth’s parents Murali Krishna and Laxmi Rani reached TNGO’s Colony, they had forced the young couple into a car saying that they were being taken to Avanthi’s parents’ house at Chandanagar, the officer said.

Murali and his wife saw the cars, alerted police and followed their trail.

“When the car headed towards Gopanpally Tanda, the couple got suspicious and managed to jump out of the moving car. However, Yugandhar got down and whisked away Hemanth in another car and took him towards Patancheru,” the officer said.

Soon, the police reached the spot, rescued her, took the woman’s family members into custody and launched a search operation for Hemanth after registering a missing case.

According to police, Hemanth was taken to Zaheerabad, where the accused purchased liquor, snacks and a bundle of jute twine rope. While returning, they stopped the vehicle near Sadasivpet to attend nature’s call. “When the victim was relieving himself, Yadav tied his hands with the rope and pushed him inside the car, where they tied his legs and strangled him to death,” the investigator said, adding that the body was dumped in an open area.

Yugandhar, Pasha, Yadav and others were picked up from the former’s relatives house in Ravalkole village in Medchal. Based on his confession, teams were sent to the spot to identify and recover the body, which was later shifted to Osmania General Hospital morgue for autopsy.