It was the priest Anumula Murali Krishna of Sri Swayambhu Siddi Vinayaka Temple, located in Vishnupuri Colony, Malkajgiri, who murdered 57-year-old Gorthy Uma Devi, a statement from Rachakonda Police Commissionerate said on Friday.
The priest killed her for her gold ornaments so as to solve his financial problems, it said.
Ms. Uma Devi, a resident of the colony, was a daily visitor to the temple. Like every evening, went to the temple at around 6.30 p.m. on Monday, but did not return. Family members’ enquiries with the priest and locals also did not yield any result. Her husband GVN Murthy, after waiting at the temple gate for long, since he found her footwear there, lastly approached the Malkajgiri police station. It was reported that the woman was not carrying her cell phone.
The police registered a missing person’s complaint, began searching for he, besides finding clues from available CCTV footage. Three days later, the police found Ms. Uma Devi’s body dumped just behind the temple. About 10-tola gold ornaments on her body were visibly missing and was understood as ‘murder for gain’.
According to the police release, 42-year-old priest Murali Krishna, hailing from Pamuru of Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh, as planned, attacked the woman with an iron rod causing deep head injuries.
After making sure she was dead, he shifted the body into a plastic drum, capped it, and then cleaned the floor. He removed all the ornaments and sold them to a local jeweller in the same colony.
Police stated that the priest even made attempts to dispose the body, but was not successful as already the police was on a search mission. The victim’s body remained in the drum inside the temple for the next two days since the time she was attacked, and sensing decomposing odour - he rolled the drum to the back of the temple in the wee hours of Thursday and dumped the body.
The priest cleaned the premises and burned incense sticks to ensure the place did not smell.
Malkajgiri police stated that it reconstructed the crime scene and gathered enough evidence.
It recovered two gold bangles and ₹1 lakh cash. Another gopi thadu, black bead chain and 35 broken pieces from six bangles, reportedly for melting, were recovered from Joshi Nanda Kishore, who runs Maa Bhavani Jewellers.
The duo were booked for murder, causing disappearance of evidence and giving false information, robbery and other provisions of the IPC.
