A techie in Andhra Pradesh allegedly killed his wife and dumped her body in a lake near Tirupati five months ago, police found on Tuesday, 31 May.
Venugopal and Padma, who got married in 2019, had been separated for a while due to certain marital disputes. Nearly five months ago on 5 January, Venugopal went to Padma’s maternal home and took her to his house in Tirupati’s Sathyanarayanapuram, where he allegedly hit her on the head with a stick and killed her.
With the help of his parents and a friend, Venugopal then wrapped her body in blankets and dumped it in the Venkatapuram lake on the outskirts of the city, police said.
Police took Venugopal to the lake on Tuesday, where he showed them her dead body, a police officer told the media.
Couple Separated After 2 Years
According to the police, Venugopal and Padma, who got married in April 2019, had stayed together in Chennai till August that year. They then had a few altercations and separated to return to their respective homes.
While Venugopal filed a divorce petition, Padma approached the Women’s Commission and various women’s police stations. Padma’s relatives told the media that Venugopal had physically abused her from the early days of their marriage.
One relative also said that they had given a dowry of 35 sovereigns of gold and Rs 15 lakh cash and the relative claimed that after this transaction, Venugopal’s mother didn’t like Padma and began to harass her.
After being separated for two years, Venugopal went to her maternal home and asked her to go along with him to his house in Sathyanarayanapuram on 5 January, a police officer said.
“He took her to his home in Sathyanarayanapuram, hit her on the head with a stick, and killed her in front of his parents and friend Santosh. They all wrapped her body in blankets, and dumped it in Venkatapuram lake,” he said.
Since then, Padma’s family members said they were unable to contact her as her phone remained switched off. They were unable to trace her in-laws, and Venugopal kept telling them that they had moved to Hyderabad and claimed Padma was with him, her family members said.
Padma's Family Files Missing Complaint With Police
They alleged that when they approached police in Tirupati in the past about being unable to contact their daughter, their fears were dismissed by police officers who asked why they were worried when she had left home with her husband.
On Tuesday, a police officer who accompanied Venugopal to the lake where Padma’s body was dumped, said that they received a missing complaint from Padma’s family on the night of 27 May, after which they interrogated Venugopal and his family who confessed to the murder.
Venugopal himself spoke to TV9 and said, “She was torturing me by not giving me a divorce, so I murdered her. She didn’t want to be with me, so I told her I would get a divorce and even offered to return her money. But she was greedy for money. She thought the law was on her side and tortured me. She had filed complaints [on me] at women’s police stations in Mangalagiri, Chittoor, and other places.”
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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