Murder victim was previously married, accused of abetting husband's suicide

HYDERABAD: Thirty-three-year-old Kuruganti Apsara — who was murdered on June 3 at midnight in a car at Allagadda, allegedly by Ayyagari Venkat Surya Sai
Krishna — and her mother K. Aruna had moved to the city from Coimbatore in
Tamil Nadu and were keeping a low-profile to evade detection by Apsara’s
in-laws, the police said.

According to the police, Apsara was previously married to a software
engineer, identified as Kartik Raja, in Coimbatore and stayed at his place
along with her mother.

Apsara and Aruna wanted to live a lavish life, and for this, they forced Raja to spend money at five-star hotels, and star parties, buying jewellery, imported dresses and expensive cosmetics. Raja had also taken a Rs 25 lakh loan to foot the bills for Apsara’s expenses.

However, Raja died by suicide after the mother and daughter duo filed a dowry harassment and domestic violence case against him, due to which he was jailed for 15 days, Apsara’s in-laws alleged.

Aruna wanted to take advantage of Apsara’s beautiful looks and encouraged her to become a heroine in Tamil movies. They met several directors and producers in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, but she failed the screening test.

Apsara’s mother-in-law Dhanalakshmi said that Apsara married her son just because had a handsome salary and to extort money from him, the two filed police cases. “After his release (from jail), he felt insulted and ended his life,” Dhanalakshmi said.

After Kartik’s suicide, Apsara and her mother Aruna moved to Hyderabad overnight, without informing anybody, changed their mobile phones and
maintained a low profile.

But, Dhanalakshmi identified the duo through media reportage of Apsara’s murder and is planning to file a case against Aruna, holding her responsible for her son’s death.

Dhanalakshmi told police that Apsara and Aruna were responsible for her son
Kartik’s death, police sources disclosed.

“We are ready to coordinate with TN police as the incident took place in
Chennai. We are also probing whether victim Apsara and her mother Aruna were
blackmailing the accused Sai Krishna. We have filled a request for accused
Sai Krishna's police custody. After the court grants his custody, we will
get a better picture,” a police officer said.