Hyderabad: Missing teen found dead near residence

HYDERABAD: A 14-year-old girl who went out for a morning walk, was found dead in suspicious conditions at an open place near her home on Monday morning. The girl’s body was suspected to have been immersed in a water sump and then abandoned on the ground, said the police, who suspect that the girl would have been murdered and her body brought and dumped in the open place.
Apuri Vaishnavi, daughter of A. Prabhu and Anasuya, was studying in Class VIII at Zilla Parishad Govern-ment High School in Jillelaguda. The family was living in a house at the 17th block in Rajiv Gruha Kalpa at Almasguda in Meerpet.

On Sunday morning, Vaishnavi told her elder sister Vani, that she would be going out for a morning walk. Anasuya, a sweeper working for Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, left for work at 5.30 am, about half-an-hour before her daughter went out. When Anasuya returned at 3 pm, she learned from Vani, who had come to her mother’s home for delivery, that Vaishnavi had not returned home since morning. Worried about her missing daughter, the woman along with her neighbours searched for the girl, in vain. At 7 pm, she went to the Meerpet police station and lodged a complaint.

Meerpet inspector A. Manmohan said: “On Monday in the early hours, we received an alert that the body of a young girl was found abandoned in the open place between the residential blocks 8 and 9,” he said. “According to the forensic doctors at Osmania General Hospital, neither internal nor external injuries were found on the girl’s body. No traces of sexual assault were also found. It is suspected that the body was immersed in a water sump and taken out, because the legs were a little swollen because of rain water. The doctors also did not find any traces of water in her stomach,” said the inspector, adding that a case of suspicious death had been booked.

Infection can cause liver enlargement

It was the second day of the morning walk for the 14-year-old Apuri Vaishnavi, only this time she never returned. Despite her mother Anasuya asking her not to go for a walk citing the festival (Rakhi Pournami) on Sunday, Vaishnavi left home saying that she would return soon, but only her body returned home. But in a shocking twist, her autopsy has indicated an inflamed liver, a sign of a chronic alcohol consumer. Something her mother apparently did not know.

An enlarged liver is due to infection or viral hepatitis or excess consumption of alcohol or scarring of the liver due to deposition of fatty tissues, stated liver specialists in the city. Fourteen-year-old Vaishnavi’s liver, according to the autopsy report, was larger than usual. The forensic doctors stated that this condition of the liver is due to consumption of alcohol, but family members have contested it. Dr Manisha Bangar, senior liver consultant, said, “For a 14-year-old to have an enlarged liver due to alcohol consumption would not be possible. The condition of enlarged liver due to alcohol requires a damage of at least six to seven years with daily consumption. This would mean that the child would be drinking from the age of six to seven years, which is not possible. The damage could also be due to herbal medication which is found to have the same effect as alcohol.”

The other major cause is jaundice but that would show on the body, say doctors. Dr Madhusudhan, professor of surgical gastroenterology and liver specialist at Osmania General Hospital, said, “When a liver is enlarged or bigger than normal, it is also a cause of underlying disease or cancer. In the present times, we find that over-the-counter Ayurvedic medicines are leading to this.”