Hyderabad priest kills woman, dumps body in drain

HYDERABAD: The police arrested Ayyagari Sai Krishna, a priest working in a Saroornagar temple, for the murder of 30-year-old Kuruganti Apsara, who had gone missing around a week ago. Police said they had been in a relationship, though Krishna was married, and Apsara had become pregnant. The couple had aborted the baby, but Apsara was pressing him to marry her.

Police found that Krishna had dumped her body in an abandoned septic tank, filled it with two lorryloads of soil and laid concrete on the place, said DCP Shamshabad K. Narayana Reddy.

While investigating the missing complaint, cops found Krishna's claims contradicted the evidence and detained him. That is when he confessed. Police got the spot dug up and recovered the body.

Apsara and her mother Aruna had moved to the city from Chennai a year ago. Apsara wanted to become a TV actress; she had played a role in a Tamil film as a child.

Aruna said that that the duo had met at the temple and Krishna became like a family member, even as they got into a relationship. "I do not know about the things between them. Even after killing her, when he came home I didn't suspect him. When he hesitated to report to the police, I got suspicious," she said.

His father Ayyagari Laxmi Narsimha Murthy said Apsara as she must have been harassing Krishna. "If he has done it, he deserves punishment," he said.

Police found that on June 3, Krishna picked up Apsara from her home, informing her mother that they were going to Coimbatore. He drove her to Shamshabad, then to Sultanpally. Apsara felt giddy and went to sleep. He tried to smother her and then hit her with a stone.

Krishna drove back home and parked the car in the apartment parking lot. On June 4, with flies swarming the car, he drove to the government offices complex at Saroornagar and dumped Apsara’s body in an abandoned septic tank.

He lodged the missing complaint on June 5 with the RGI airport police of Cyberabad.