The investigation into the recent murder of a 22-year-old woman will now be headed by Commissioner of Police Rajeev Kumar Meena, senior police officers said.
“Several intricacies have come to light in the investigation into the woman’s murder. There is a multiple murder angle that is now being investigated,” Mr. Meena said on Thursday after taking up the lead in the investigation.
According to him, it is suspected that the victim’s mother, brother and grandmother were also murdered by one of the accused, in 2014 in East Godavari district.
“At that time, the deceased woman was around 15 or 16 years old and she had become an orphan after the deaths of her family members. She was brought to Vizag by her aunt and her uncle and was allegedly pushed into prostitution,” Mr. Meena said.
However, while the victim’s grandmother’s body was found by the police in a field, the bodies of her mother and younger are yet to be found.
“We are trying to ascertain what actually happened to them, and if they are even still alive. In 2014, the victim’s mother was around 35 years of age and we are looking into whether she too was pushed into the flesh trade,” Mr. Meena said.
Police on Thursday took custody of the woman’s aunt, who is one of the main accused, for further questioning and are probing if she played a role in forcing other young girls into prostitution.
According to the police, the 22-year-old was not fed for over six days and underwent severe abuse at the hands of her killers, who tonsured her and burnt her with spatulas and cigarette butts.
There were 33 injury marks on her body, and the cause of her death was a severe head injury, police said.
