Hyderabad: Tenant held for bizman’s killing

Hyderabad: A former tenant who killed businessman Pampari Ramesh was arrested by the SR Nagar police on Friday. Mude Raju Naik allegedly beat Ramesh to death with a hammer on February 1 at a house in Jubilee Hills.

Naik stole the gold chain and ring from the body and mortgaged them for Rs 1.4 lakh. He tried to dispose of the body and even hacked off the hands but did not see it through. Police found the body in the Jubilee Hills house.

Police said Naik was working as a delivery executive with an app-based food delivery service at the time of his arrest.

Police said Naik was a tenant for some time in a house that Ramesh previously owned in Rama Rao Nagar in Borabanda. They used to meet regularly even after Naik vacated the house consume alcohol. The frequency of their meetings increased recently.

Naik needed money and planned to rob Ramesh, police said. On February 1, Naik allegedly invited Ramesh to a rented house in Jawaharnagar to consume alcohol and laced his drinks. When Ramesh fell unconscious, Naik hit him with a hammer on the head and neck and killed him.

On February 2, Naik returned to the house. When one of his neighbours asked him about the bad smell coming from his house. Naik allegedly blamed it on a gas leak.

At about 10.30 am that day, Ramesh’s daughter-in-law received WhatsApp messages from Ramesh’s mobile phone that appeared to have been sent by another person. The messages said Ramesh was drunk and would be brought home once he woke up.

Later, Naik went to his second wife Naseeb’s house in Malkajgiri and informed her about the murder. The same evening, Ramesh’s family approached the SR Nagar.

Naik when to the house on February 3 with his wife to dispose of the body. But it was highly decomposed and smel-ling, so he covered it and placed naphthalene balls around it.

The same day,  Ramesh’s daughter-in-law received a message from Ramesh’s phone demanding `90 lakh.

On February 4, Jubilee Hills police received information from a house owner in Jawaharnagar about foul smell emanating from the house. This led to the discovery of the body.

Joint commissioner of police and incharge  DCP, West Zone, A.R. Srinivas said: “Within 48 hours we were able to arrest the accused. Naik used to switch on the mobile at different places in LB Nagar, Nagole and other place to evade arrest.”