Ex-serviceman who killed wife, chopped, boiled and burnt body pieces arrested
Hyderabad: Police on Tuesday announced the arrest of an ex-serviceman who killed his wife in the most brutal fashion, chopped her body into pieces, boiled and burnt them into ashes.
A week after the sensational killing came to light at Meerpet on the outskirts of Hyderabad, Rachakonda Police announced the arrest of 39-year-old Gurumurthy and produced him before the media.
The man allegedly killed his wife Putta Venkata Madhavi, chopped her body into pieces, boiled them in water with a water heater, burnt them again on the stove and turned them into ashes before disposing of them in a lake.
Rachakonda Police Commissioner G. Sudheer Babu shared the grisly details of the case and admitted that they too were stunned by the brutal manner in which the accused committed the crime. The Commissioner told the media that Gurumurthy is unrepentant and remorseless.
“This was not a crime committed in a fit of rage. It was a planned murder executed in the most brutal manner,” he said. The top cop termed it the rarest of rare cases and revealed that he had never seen such a case in his career. The retired soldier resorted to the boiling and burning body pieces in order to wipe out physical evidence and escape but police worked on the case meticulously and collected the technical evidence to nail him.
Sharing the details of the gruesome murder, the Police Commissioner said on Sankranti (January 15), Gurumurthy and Madhavi along with their two children went to a relative’s house. The couple returned to their house on the same night, leaving behind the children with the relative.
The next day morning, Gurumurthy had a fight with his wife. He thrashed her and hit her head against the wall. When she collapsed, he strangled her to death. The accused then used the knife to cut the body into four pieces — legs, hands, head and torso.
Police found during the investigation that he cut the body into pieces from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The accused then boiled water with a water heater and poured body pieces into it. Not stopping at that, he burnt the boiled pieces on a stove. He then grinded and crushed the burnt pieces with mortar and pestle to turn them into powder. The killer then poured the ashes into a plastic bucket and dumped in Jillelaguda Lake.
Police said the accused brought the children home after clearing all the traces of body pieces. When the children enquired about their mother, he told them that she left the house without any information. Two days later, when Madhavi’s parents enquired about her, he accompanied them to the police station to lodge a missing case.
The Commissioner said police seized a knife, stove, roller stone, water heater, bucket, room fresher, acid bottle, victim’s dress and two mobile phones.
Earlier in the day, the police took the accused to the crime scene and reconstructed the scene. The Commissioner said the police would take all steps to prove the case legally and ensure that Gurumurthy gets the punishment.