Husband under arrest for woman\'s murder after her burnt body found in Ruia hospital

Tirupati: The mystery over spotting the burnt body of a woman packed in a suitcase and set on fire at a secluded spot in the Ruia Hospital area here last week has been cracked. Police zeroed in on her husband based on evidence he killed her.

The body was first spotted by passers-by who quickly called the police on Wednesday. A team from Alipiri station led by CI Devendra Kumar launched an investigation. Some 85-90 per cent of the body surface had been charred.

Forensic teams confirmed that it was a woman. Cops checked about missing cases from the nearby areas, but could obtain no lead.

However, after days of investigation, police established her identity as Bhuvaneswari, 27, a native of Punganur’s Ramasamudram in Chittoor district. She was married to Srikanth Reddy, a native of Badvel in Kadapa district, two and a half years ago and the couple has an 18-months-old girl.

Three months ago, the couple shifted their base from Hyderabad to an apartment in Tirupati.

“Srikanth Reddy was currently unemployed. He used to quarrel with his wife. As per evidence we obtained, he killed his wife and packed her body in a suitcase. He left it at a secluded spot in the Ruia hospital premises. Later, at night, he went there, poured petrol on the suitcase and burnt it,” a senior police officer said.

The police took the woman’s husband into custody. They also arrested the driver of a vehicle who helped the man transport the body to the hospital area in his taxi cab.