Hyderabad, December 01: A ‘suspect’ in a murder and robbery case died under custody of Medchal police on Wednesday. The suspect hanged himself to death in the toilet and died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital.
The suspect, N Philips aged around 50 years, was a painter and previously a resident of Shapur. According to police, Philips left his family 25 years back and returned just six months ago and was staying with his daughter, Aruna in Gyanapur village of Medchal mandal.
According to Medchal police inspector V Yadagiri Reddy, an elderly woman Anjalamma was strangled to death and half-tola gold and four tola silver ornaments were stolen from her house on November 25. The next day, police started a probe into it.
A sniffer dog tracked down scent of the criminal and walked into Aruna’s house and everyone including police suspected Philips was involved in the woman’s killing. Philips went missing from house since then. “Locals and family members told us he was suffering from mental problems,” police claimed.
Police said Philips was brought to the police station on Wednesday morning around 5.30 a.m.
“Around 6.30 a.m, he went into the bathroom on pretext of attending nature’s call and hanged himself. He took a portion of a bed sheet to hang himself,’’ Yadagiri Reddy said. Though police said Philips was brought to police station on Wednesday itself, there were reports he was taken into custody two days back.
Policemen immediately shifted Philips to Mediciti hospital where he died while undergoing treatment. A case under Section 176 (custodial death) was registered.
-PTI