Malkajgiri cold-blooded murder: Priest kills 57YO woman for gold ornaments

Hyderabad: Two people, including a priest, have been arrested in the murder case of Uma Devi, the lady who went missing a few days ago and was found dead on Thursday morning. One of the accused is the priest of the temple she regularly visits.

According to the police, one of the accused Anumula Murali Krishna a Priest in Sri Swayambhu Siddi Vinayaka Temple Vishnupuri colony, Malkajgiri murdered the woman and robbed her of her gold ornaments that weighed about 10 Thulas and further, sold the same in Maa Bhavani Jewelers at Vishnupuri Colony, Malkajgiri. The stolen property has been recovered intact from their possession.

The police recovered two gold bangles, one lakh rupees cash, and cards given by the jewelry shop owner from the priest. Gold chains and the victim's bangles cut into 35 pieces were recovered from the jeweler. Two iron rods and one plastic drum have been recovered from the crime scene.

A case has been registered under IPC Section 302, 201, 392, 411 by Malkajgiri Police of Rachakonda Police Commissionerate.

Background of the case

On April 18, Uma Devi (57) had gone to the temple and didn't return. When her husband went to the temple and asked the priest (accused), he said that she had already left. However, her footwear was found outside the chappal. Her husband waited for a long time and began searching for her.

Uma's photo and other details were circulated on social media requesting residents of the Secunderabad area to call the family if they find her. "We did receive enormous support from several people who we didn't even know her. They kept assuring us that she'd be fine and that we'd find her," her family said. They said they are grateful for the support.

Uma was not carrying a phone or wallet when she went missing but she had three gold bangles on each hand and a mangalsutra at the time she went missing.

Based on credible information the Malkajgiri police nabbed the temple priest (murderer and ornaments offender) and recorded his confession, in which he confessed to committing the offense.

Modus operandi

According to the police, the deceased regularly used to visit the temple by wearing gold ornaments and the priest developed an evil eye against the gold ornaments of the deceased, planned to eliminate her for her gold ornaments in order to restore his financial problems.

According to the pre-plan of the priest, on 18.04.2022 at about 07:00 pm, when the deceased visited the Swayambhu Siddi Vinayaka Temple, Vishnupuri colony, Malkajigiri then since Uma was alone in the temple, murdered her brutally by beating her on the head with an iron rod repeatedly. Further, the priest after confirming the death of the deceased dumped the body of the deceased in a plastic drum, closed it with a cap, and cleaned the floor with the water which he brought earlier and kept in the temple.

The priest then robbed the gold ornaments from the deceased woman and sold the same in Maa Bhavani Jewelers at Vishnupuri colony, Malkajgiri to the second accused, Joshi Nanda Kishore.

Later, he tried to dispose of the body by taking it to an isolated place in a trolley but could not escape as the locals and police officials were in search of the deceased. As he couldn't dispose of the body of the deceased, and after two days of offense as the bad odour was emitting, on April 21 wee hours the priest, took the drum containing the body of the deceased to the back of the temple by rolling it and dumped the body in the thorny bushes existing in between the railway track and back of the temple. He then brought the empty drum into the temple, cleaned it with Lysol, and further kept the drum in its place as it was. As the bad odour persisted, he again cleaned the place inside the temple and further lighted the incense sticks.