Hyderabad: Police cracked the murder of 56-year-old S. Suresh Kumar, a scientist at Isro’s National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) in Balanagar. He was killed by his 39-year-old partner Janagama Srinivas, after an argument over money.
The murder mystery was solved through evidence scientifically recovered from the crime scene. With the killer’s arrest, the murder weapon, a billhook, was recovered. Police claimed the killer and the victim were in a same-sex relationship, and that the murder was pre-meditated. The suspect was found to have researched lynching and murder on the internet.
The victim was discovered on Tuesday when family members opened the lock in the presence of the police. Suresh Kumar lay in a pool of blood with three stabs to the head. For the high-profile case, the west zone police formed three special teams to investigate.
Police initially suspected a family dispute or a professional matter, but ruled both out.
Evidence from the crime scene including the victim’s phone and CCTV footage in the vicinity was vital in nabbing the culprit. Call Data Record (CDR) analysis of the victim’s phone narrowed down the persons of interest to the eventual suspect, and Srinivas was apprehended.
“The deceased was an Isro scientist staying alone in the city,” city police commissioner Anjani Kumar said. “He was health conscious and used to visit a diagnostic centre in Ameerpet for medical tests, where he befriended Srinivas.”
For three months Srinivas visited Suresh’s apartment to deliver medical reports and for blood collection. Suresh was lonely and wanted sex, which Srinivas offered expecting a monetary return. His demand grew insistent, while Suresh kept promising but postponing the payment, he said.
