Hyderabad, September 13: Posing as prospective tenants, robbers gained entry into a house in Neredmet and strangled the land lady to death on Monday afternoon. After killing her, they escaped with gold jewellery worth Rs 1.5 lakh.
The victim was identified as R Surekha, 40, from Rambrahmam Nagar in Old Neredmet. Her husband Suresh runs an electrical appliances store in the neighbourhood.
According to the police, on Monday morning, Suresh, who was at the shop, got a phone call from a person saying that he wanted to have a look at the vacant portion in his house. As the caller had visited his house the previous day, Suresh told him that his wife would show him the portion to be let out.
After talking to the person, Suresh called his wife and told her about the man visiting their house. The incident came to light at 3.30 pm when Surekha’s son Lokesh returned home from school. As his mother was not there at home, Lokesh went to see if she was in the vacant ground floor portion and found her lying dead in the hall, Neredmet inspector K Venkat Reddy said.
Police said that robbers had gagged Surekha with a piece of cloth and then strangled her to death. “After killing Surekha, they took away seven tolas of gold jewellery she was wearing,” the inspector added. According to the police , the two men, who saw the portion on Sunday, may have committed the offence. Police are trying to track the men, who were in their thirties, using the mobile numbers they used to call Suresh.
Cases were booked under Section 302 ( Murder) and 380 (Theft in a building) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). CLUES team visited the house and collected fingerprints.
–Agencies