Murder: Accused tried poisoning wife, failed

HYDERABAD: The six-member gang hired by Mupparapu Ajith Kumar, a UK-based NRI pharmacist, to kill his wife Shirisha and her family in the city by arsenic poisoning, had attempted once earlier a week ago, to poison Shirisha’s parents in their flat, but they couldn’t succeed as Shirisha’s father raised the alarm.

For both Ajith and Shirisha, this was their second marriage and both of them had one child each from their first marriages.

During their stay in London, Shirisha was allegedly harassed by Ajith frequently. Following this he was detained once in the police station for about six hours. He hatched a plan to kill her and her entire family.

It was also found that Ajith purchased arsenic from a store in Koti and mixed it with the spices at his in-laws’ home. The arsenic injections seized during the arrest were also believed to be purchased from the same store in Koti.

Inquiries revealed that Ajith, who also owns a small company in the UK, has transferred small amounts to the members of the gang to execute his plan, but transferred Rs 2 lakhs for expenses to one of the gang members.

The person who received Rs 2 lakhs, along with other accused persons, entered Shirisha’s house claiming to be her sister-in-law’s brother and his friends. They had come up with a plan to inject Shirisha’s father and other family members with arsenic. Still, her father Hanumantha Rao said that he had not seen them in the marriage and also that his daughter-in-law had not informed him about their visit.

Suspecting foul play, he raised an alarm forcing the accused to leave the place. Meanwhile, Shirisha’s cousin Purnendhar Rao and Ramesh, son of the apartment watchman, kept an eye on the movements of the family and updated Ajith about them. They also shared the pictures on Whatsapp, which he shared with the other accused persons for identification purposes.