Naveen murder case: Friend of main accused gets bail

Hyderabad: Engineering student Katta Niharika Reddy, 20, who was arrested by the police in connection with the murder of Nenavat Naveen, was on Saturday granted bail on the grounds that she was not involved in the murder and that the pictures shared by the main accused with her were done without her consent.

Niharika’s counsel contended in the court that the main accused, Hari Hara Krishna, was harassing her and had sent her messages and photos of the murder without her consent.

Further, the counsel argued that she was in deep shock over the incident and that the investigation officers failed to submit concrete evidence against her and instead, took her to the scene of the crime based on Krishna’s statement.

Sources said that Niharika’s uncle is a leading criminal advocate and he contended that in footage collected from a CCTV camera near Tirumala Wines on February 17 — the day of the murder — Naveen, Krishna and his friend Prabhaliti Hassan were spotted, but there was no evidence of Niharika’s association with Krishna immediately before or after the murder.

Krishna surrendered to the police on February 24.

Niharika’s counsel, accusing the police of damaging her image, affecting her mental state and adversely impacting her studies, claimed she was falsely framed and requested bail, assuring that she will be available whenever required.

A previous bail petition filed by Niharika’s counsel on the day of her arrest was dismissed after the police filed a counter. Hassan and Niharika were arrested by the police on March 6.

The police said that as per the technical evidence collected, Hassan helped Krishna dispose of the body parts of the victim and that Niharika was aware of the incident at the time it was happening, as the accused shared pictures with her. They said they will use the pictures shared by Krishna with Niharika as technical evidence during the prosecution.

Hassan and Niharika were produced at the Hayathnagar court following their arrest and remanded to 14-day judicial custody. After the court rejected the initial bail plea by Niharika’s counsel, the second one was accepted as the custody was coming to an end.