Engineering student’s ‘suicide’ turns out to be murder; two arres

Police say evidence from CCTV footage, call logs, call recordings and other technical material changed the course of a case first registered as death by suicide, leading to the arrest of two men in the death of 21-year-old engineering student Thandra Akshitarani.

Case shifted after technical evidence

What initially appeared to be Akshitarani’s death by suicide after consuming pesticide became a murder case after Peddpalli police said they found that she had allegedly been forced to consume it.

Police also said a note was part of an attempt to make her death appear self-inflicted.

Naveen Kumar, 38, an outsourced lecturer at the Singareni Collieries Polytechnic in Naspur, was arrested on charges of murdering Akshitarani and attempting to stage her death.

Ravi Kumar, 35, a Singareni overman accused of threatening, blackmailing, and forcefully intimidating her in the name of love, was also arrested.

Both men were taken into custody on September 20.

Peddapalli Deputy Commissioner of Police B. Ram Reddy said Akshitarani had met Naveen while pursuing her diploma.

According to the police account, their relationship soured after she moved to Hyderabad to pursue a degree in mining engineering and later met Ravi during an apprenticeship at a Singareni mine.

“Naveen could not tolerate Akshitarani distancing herself from him and getting close to Ravi Kumar. He developed a grudge against the two of them,” the officer said.

Police reconstruct alleged sequence

According to police, Naveen intercepted Akshitarani near the FCI crossroads while she was returning home on September 12.

Police said he took her in his car and allegedly forced her to write a note blaming Ravi for sexual assault before forcing her to consume pesticide.

Investigators also said Naveen then delayed her from getting medical treatment.

He later allegedly used Akshitarani’s phone to contact her father in an attempt to make the family believe that she had killed herself.

Akshitarani was eventually taken to the Godavarikhani government hospital on September 12.

She died during treatment the following day.

With the note pointing towards suicide, police initially registered a case of death by suicide.

But CCTV footage, call logs, call recordings and other technical evidence began pointing investigators in a different direction.

Police said they reconstructed the sequence of events and identified Naveen as the main accused in her death.

Separate allegations against Ravi under probe

Police said a car and mobile phones were seized as part of the investigation.

A separate investigation is underway into Akshitarani’s allegations against Ravi, including that he had forced her into a physical relationship.

Ravi is also accused of threatening and blackmailing her.

The police account says Ravi was arrested alongside Naveen, while the allegations against him are being examined separately from the reconstruction that identified Naveen as the main accused in Akshitarani’s death.

Naveen is married and has two daughters.

Ravi is also married and has children.

The case matters because police say it moved from an apparent self-inflicted death to an alleged staged murder only after investigators examined technical evidence and reconstructed the events leading to Akshitarani’s hospitalisation.

Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416, and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.

Source: The Hindu