Friends who aided murder accused to dispose of body held

HYDERABAD: The police arrested two more persons in connection with the murder of N. Naveen on February 17 by a BE student Hari Hara Krishna, for not reporting the incident and allegedly helping the main accused destroy the evidence.

The two, Katta Niharika and Prabhaliti Hassain, 21, were produced in court on Monday and lodged in 14-day judicial remand.

LB Nagar DCP Sai Sri said that Krishna went to Hassain’s house on the night of the murder and confided in him, following which the duo went to the murder spot and packaged the victim’s body parts in a bag. They threw it near Manneguda and Krishna stayed at Hassain’s residence in Brahmanpally.

Krishna was also in constant touch with Niharika, sending her pictures of Naveen’s body, even as he was committing the murder.

On February 18, Krishna met Niharika near her house in Hasthinapuram, updated her on the events and borrowed ₹1,500.

On February 20, Krishna took her to the crime scene on his bike and they had dinner at a restaurant, police said. They deleted their phone conversations, messages and photos of the incident.

When Naveen's friend Mithun called Niharika on February 22 and asked her about the victim, she lied to him that she did not know about him and that Naveen did not use a mobile phone.

On February 24, Krishna decided to surrender to the police, after setting Naveen’s body ablaze. Hassain collected Naveen’s head and handed it to Krishna, who set the body parts afire at the crime scene.

Krishna then went to Niharika’s house, took a bath and surrendered at the Abdullapurmet police station.