Analysis of 60 CCTVs footage help Cyberabad police solve woman’s murder
Hyderabad: Meticulous analysis of footage from over 60 closed-circuit surveillance cameras within a 10-kilometer radius at several parts of the city helped the Cyberabad police to unravel the mystery behind the murder of a woman in Dundigal with the arrest of a person on Saturday morning.
The arrested has been identified as A. Praveen Kumar, 36, private employee and resident of Pochammawada in Utnoor Village in Adilabad, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police, Medchal Zone, N Koti Reddy.
Reddy said Kumar met the deceased B. Sharadha while running a mobile shop in 2013. They later developed a close relationship, frequently communicating over WhatsApp and meeting in person. In 2020, Sharadha shifted to Hyderabad and then began blackmailing him for money, threatening to reveal their relationship to his family and file legal charges to ruin his reputation.
Fearing these threats, Kumar paid Rs.2 lakh to her a year ago. To prevent her from blackmailing her, Kumar devised a plan to recover compromising videos from her phone and eliminate her. On October 23, 2024, he travelled from Utnoor to her residence in Mallampet.
During their meeting, he asked her to return the videos, but she demanded more money. In a fit of rage, Kumar strangled her to death. After the incident, Kumar returned to his native place to hide. To mislead investigators, he staged a robbery by snatching her jewelry, including a chain and earrings.
On Saturday around 8 am, the Dundigal police apprehended him at Secunderabad. The investigators managed to arrest Kumar only after diligent analysis of 60 CCTVs footage within a 10-kilometer radius by the CAT Analysis team, Reddy explained.