Rangareddy District (Telangana) : An 82-year-old woman living alone has rented out her house to a young woman for the sake of safety. However, a young man living next door developed an illicit relationship with the tenant woman and both of them together suffocated the old woman to death and stole 230 grams of gold ornaments.
The deceased was identified as Samreddy Sathemma and the incident took place at her residence at Thorrur, Turkayanzal Municipality in the Rangareddy district. Tenant Lalita (34) and her paramour Endla Rakesh (28) were named as accused in the case. The investigation revealed that on Sunday night, both the accused broke into the house of Sathemma and Lalita held the victim's legs tight while Rakesh smothered her to death by pressing a pillow on her head, police officials said.
The accused fled the scene after the murder but the Rachakonda police traced their whereabouts based on their phone calls and arrested both accused within hours. Commissioner of Police D S Chauhan, Deputy Commissioner of Police Saishri and other police officials inspected the spot.
Giving details of the case, DCP Saishri said the victim Sathemma was living alone at her home as her husband died while her kids settled in different cities. Eight days ago Sathemma went to her younger daughter's home at Bollarum and stayed there for a week and on June 3rd she attended a relative's wedding, returning on June 4th to her home in Thorrur.
On June 5, a local person came to Sathemma's house and knocked on the door but there was no response. When he went in through another door from the side, Sathemma was found lying dead in the bedroom. Locals informed Satthamma's eldest son Bal Reddy, who in turn alerted the police.
The main accused Endla Rakesh hails from Damaragidda of Narayanpet district and he works in a finance company. As his elder brother was building a house in front of Sathemma's house in Thorrur, he used to come there often to see the works. He became acquainted with Lalita who was staying at Sathemma's house. It turned out to be an extra-marital affair. Rakesh thought of stealing Satthemma's jewellery when Lalitha introduced him to Sathemma, the police said.
