Murder of financier: Wife, lover among 6 held

 Visakhapatnam: The Chodavaram police arrested a woman, her lover and four others on charges of killing her husband and later trying to portray it as a cardiac arrest. The victim was L Hari Vijay, a financier.

Police said Hari Vijay, a financier at Nereduvalasa village under G Madugula Mandal in ASR district, married Samireddi Preethi, a native of Chivukuchinta village under Munchingiput Mandal in ASR district, around eight years ago.

Hari Vijay along with his family and Preethi’s father Shankar Rao shifted to Maruthi Nagar in Chodavaram town in Anakapalle district a few years ago for treatment of their daughter.

“During the probe, the police leant that Preethi was having an affair with BSS Pranay, a resident of Chodavaram. Since, the victim had objected to their relationship and he physically and mentally harassed Preethi for continuing the affair, Preethi along with her lover, father and friends hatched a conspiracy to kill him,” police said.

“Preethi along with her father and a few others murdered Hari Vijay on April 17 by smothering him at Chodavaram and then shifted the body to the Government Hospital at Paderu in ASR district claiming that he suffered cardiac arrest. He was declared dead by the doctors,” police said.

The Paderu police first registered a case under Section 174 of CrPC (suspicious death). But the postmortem report revealed marks around his neck, prompting an investigation. When Paderu police questioned Shankar Rao, he confessed that Hari Vijay was murdered by Preethi and others including himself. The police arrested Shankar Rao and the case was subsequently transferred to Chodavaram police.

Police said Preethi, her lover and her father made the victim consume liquor on April 17 night and then smothered him to death using a pillow and blanket. They arrested Preethi, Pranay, Lalin Kumar, Karri Ramu, Pitla Konda Raju alias Bashir and her father Shankar Rao.