Engg student cuts pal into pieces over affair

Hyderabad: In one of the most gruesome murders in recent times, an engineering student beheaded his friend and collegemate and dismembered the body following a dispute over a girl. The accused, Hari Hara Krishna, then sent pictures of the body parts to the girl, police said on Saturday.

From February 17, when Krishna murdered the victim, till Saturday, it appeared that he had only told the girl. The girl purportedly praised him, and the police is inquiring if she knew of the murder.

On Saturday, Krishna turned up before the Abdullapurmet police and confessed that he had murdered his friend, Nenawat Naveen. Police and his family had been searching for the victim, Krishna’s BTech final year coursemate, following a complaint from his family that he had gone missing.

The police took Krishna to an isolated place near the Vijayawada Highway where he said he had killed his friend. What they found there and what Krishna told them left even the hardened policemen shocked.

Quoting from Krishna’s confession, police said he took Naveen on his two-wheeler (TS07 JD 0244) to an isolated place near a public school in Pedda Amberpet. Once there, he pushed Naveen to the ground, strangled and beheaded him.

He sent a picture of the head to the girl over WhatsApp. He then proceeded to cut the victim’s lips, right hand index finger, heart and genitals. After cutting out each body part, he sent the girl the picture along with a message: “the finger that touched you is cut...”, “the lips those kissed you are cut,” “the heart that he gave you has been cut”.

At one time the girl apparently messaged “good boy.” Police is trying to verify if she praised him or assumed that he was sending fake pictures. “We are verifying the girl’s involvement in the murder,” a senior police officer said.

Krishna told the police he was waiting to kill Naveen for the past three months.  

Police said Krishna, the victim Naveen and the girl were friends when they were studying Intermediate in a college in Dilsukhnagar.

Krishna was in love with the girl but he held back after Naveen reportedly expressed his affection for her, police said. A few days back the girl reportedly told Krishna that she was in love with him.

This sparked a dispute between the friends and Krishna asked Naveen to back off. They had quarrelled over the issue frequently, police said.

On February 17, Krishna called Naveen to his friend’s room in Abdullapurmet, where they both consumed liquor and quarrelled. Krishna said he took Naveen to a remote place and killed him, according to Abdullapurmet inspector P. Swamy.

Naveen had left for college at 7 am from his house in Narketpally on February 17, stating that he was going to meet Krishna. When he did not return home, his family members contacted the college management, relatives and friends. When they found his mobile phone switched off, they lodged a complaint with the Narapally police.

On February 19, when the victim’s father Nenawat Shankaraiah called up Krishna, the accused told him that Naveen had come to his house on February 17 but left after a quarrel, police sources disclosed.

Following Krishna’s confession and recovery of Naveen’s body, police booked him for murder, tampering with evidence and under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Police said they had recovered the knife used in murder and bloodstained clothes of Krishna and sent them for FSL for examination.