Hyderabad: The Commissioner’s Task Force team on Tuesday arrested a priest from the Old City for the murder of two women with the motive of robbing them of their gold ornaments, and recovered the property from him.
The man, identified as Ankuri Giri, 34, a priest presently working as a GHMC sweeper, murdered and dumped the dead bodies of Yadamma, 50, and Sumitra, 45, near Musi canal in the Langer Houz area and fled with their gold earrings on January 21.
About 10 years ago, Giri claimed he had been converted as a priest (Shiva Satti) and started performing poojas in temples.
From 2010, he started working as a sweeper in GHMC’s Chandrayangutta Circle, in Hyderabad.
According to the police, Giri frequented a toddy shop at Dathu Nagar where on January 21 he saw the two women and noticed the gold ornaments they were wearing. He began talking to them and told them that he knew how to perform special poojas and that he could train the women in it. Believing him, the women went with him to the Musi riverbed in Langer Houz.
The trio consumed toddy there and after asking them to apply turmeric on their faces as a ritual, Giri attacked them with a stone and dragged their bodies into the water and left the place with the gold earrings before anybody could see him. The bodies were discovered by M Sunder Singh, an agricultural labour, said police commissioner of Hyderabad Anjani Kumar. Considering the seriousness and sensitivity of the issue, the Police Commissioner instructed the Task Force to assist the local police with the investigation. Their efforts resulted in the arrest of Ankuri Giri on Tuesday.
