Techie husband is the cold-blooded killer of Kanigiri woman for insurance money

KANIGIRI: Startling revelations came to the fore in the police investigation into the recent death of Radha, a married woman, under suspicious circumstances near Kanigiri of Prakasam district. If the police suspicions turn out to be true, the victim’s husband – a techie in Hyderabad – is the black sheep in the episode where the woman was murdered in cold blood to pocket Rs 1.5 crore insurance money and an attempt was made to implicate her friend in the case. With all leads in their scientific probe, including the evaluation of the technical data, pointing to him, the police have detained Mohan Reddy, Radha’s husband.

Chilling details of the gruesome murder surfaced after the police nearly cracked the murder mystery when they stumbled on some crucial evidence. Mohan Reddy, the accused, is currently being interrogated by the Kanigiri police to elicit complete details of the murder plot and the involvement of others in it.

Radha (36) was found dead on the Veligandla cross road near Kanigiri, a few hours after she went untraceable last Wednesday evening. Based on the inputs from Radha’s family members, it was initially suspected that she could have been eliminated by her childhood friend Kasa Reddy, who borrowed Rs 80 lakh a few years ago and had not repaid the money since then. But a multi-dimensional investigation, based on cell phone call data and the registration number plate of a car used for the crime, led the police to zero in on Radha’s husband Mohan Reddy.

Also read: Techie’s wife found dead in AP, murder suspected over money deal

According to the police and family members, Radha was married to Mohan Reddy, a native of Kodada in Nalgonda district and working in a software company in Hyderabad, several years ago. The couple have two young children. Kasa Reddy, a close childhood friend of Radha, lost his job with a software company a few years back and in an attempt to float his own firm, borrowed Rs 80 lakh from Radha and Mohan Reddy.

However, Kasa Reddy has not kept his word in repaying the money and was biding his time on every occasion the topic was broached with him. The loan issue is also believed to have created friction between the couple, who used to frequently quarrel over it. Adding fuel to this, Mohan Reddy had also reportedly grown suspicious over his wife and her closeness to Kasa Reddy. Against this backdrop, Radha, along with her two children, came to her native village of Jillellapadu in Venigandla mandal near Kanigiri of Prakasam district on May 11, 2023 to take part in the Chowdeswari festival.

As per reports, she received an SMS on her mobile phone on Wednesday from an unknown number in which the sender proposed a meeting to make a part-payment of the money. Presuming that it was related to Kasa Reddy’s loan, Radha left her house in Jillellapadu in the evening along with her two children, stating that she was going out on some personal work. After reaching Kanigiri, she left her two children behind at the house of her uncle (babai) before venturing out alone.

As CCTV footage revealed, Radha initially did a bit of shopping before reaching Pamuru bus stand in Kanigiri. Visuals obtained from a nearby CCTV camera showed a red car approaching her and Radha speaking to the unidentified inmates for a while before getting into the vehicle. A few hours after she left the place in the car, she was found dead at the Veligandla cross road. It was then believed that she could have been murdered at the desolate Tidco housing cluster before her body was dumped at the cross road.

Even as the initial suspicion was pointed towards Kasa Reddy, the case received an unexpected anti-climax in the all-encompassing investigation carried out by the police. While trying to rule out the possibilities from all dimensions, the police evaluated Radha’s cell phone call list. With the buck stopping at the crucial SMS received from the unknown sender, the police went on its trail using technology. They also tracked down the owner of the car used in the crime.

As it turned out, the police found out that the SIM which was used to send the last SMS to Radha belonged to a woman selling sugarcane juice in Hyderabad. After a quick verification run of the car’s number plate, they traced the vehicle to a travel firm in the Telangana capital. It was ascertained that the car was hired by Radha’s husband Mohan Reddy, but without the services of a driver.

Simultaneously, the sugarcane juice vendor also identified Mohan Reddy, from the pictures shown by the police, as the one who took her SIM and used it from his mobile device. With technology coming to their aid, the police were able to quickly crack the case and detain Mohan Reddy for further interrogation.

Even as Mohan Reddy was being grilled for further information on the other possible accomplices in the crime, the police suspect that Mohan Reddy decided to eliminate his wife with an eye on insurance money. Apparently, she was insured for more than Rs 1.5 crores. His suspicion on his wife is also said to have added fuel to his desire to kill her.