Hyderabad: Nacharam police have arrested taxi driver M Anjibabu (33) for the murder of his landlady, S Sujatha (65), and the theft of her gold jewellery in Mallapur. The victim’s body was later recovered from the Godavari River in Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema district, Andhra Pradesh.
According to Nacharam CI Dhanunjay, Sujatha lived alone in Baba Nagar, Mallapur, following the deaths of her husband and sons. Anjibabu, originally from Kothapalli in Peravali Mandal, came to Hyderabad to work as a driver and rented a room in Sujatha’s house two months ago.
Police reported that on December 19 at around 11:30 am, Anjibabu strangled Sujatha with a blanket while she was preparing food and stole the 11 tolas of gold she was wearing. He then informed his friends Yuvaraju (18) and Durgarao (35) before locking the house and returning to his hometown.
The three men rented a car on December 20, traveled to Mallapur, moved the body to Konaseema on December 21, and dumped it in the Godavari River. Sujatha’s sister, Suvarnalatha, discovered her absence when visiting the house on December 24.
Following a confession by Anjibabu, police arrested his two accomplices and recovered 10 tolas of stolen gold. They were remanded in judicial custody.
Nacharam police used boats to search the Godavari River after the accused revealed where the body was dumped, between Pedapatnam Lanka and Appanapalli villages. “I created a WhatsApp group with local fishermen and shared the victim’s details. On Tuesday, a fisherman spotted the body two km downstream from Appanapalli village. We conducted a post-mortem on site and handed the body to the family. Locating it was key to the investigation,” said CI Dhanunjay.
