Trigger warning: Violence, Murder
A horrific crime came to light in Hyderabad on Thursday, May 24, as police announced their findings in the murder case of a middle-aged woman whose decapitated head was found in a garbage dump about a week ago. The woman, identified as 55-year-old Anuradha, was allegedly killed by her landlord, 48-year-old B Chandra Mohan, over a financial dispute. Chandra Mohan allegedly murdered Anuradha by stabbing her with a knife on May 12. He then alleged used stone-cutting machines to cut her body into nearly six parts, with plans to dispose of them one by one. Police said that he allegedly kept the legs and arms in a refrigerator and the trunk in a suitcase. The accused allegedly placed the head in a black polythene cover and discarded it at a garbage dump across the Afzal Nagar community hall near Musi River, where a sanitation worker discovered it on the morning of May 17.
The case has a few chilling similarities to the murder of Shraddha Walkar allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Amin Poonawala, including the use of a fridge to store the victim’s body parts, the use of perfume and incense sticks to mask the smell of decomposing body parts, and the accused allegedly sending out messages from the victim’s phone after the crime to thwart suspicion.
Anuradha’s head was found by a sanitation worker of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on the morning of May 17, in a garbage dumping place in Malakpet. The woman remained unidentified for several days even as police sought information by publicising her photos in crowded places and nearby areas. While the police did not explain the exact leads that helped them nab Chandra Mohan, they told reporters that he himself identified the victim and confessed to the crime.
According to a press note from Hyderabad South East Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police Ch Rupesh, Chandra Mohan was in a relationship with Anuradha and had provided her accommodation in one portion of his house on the ground floor. Anuradha was a moneylender, and Chandra Mohan had borrowed about Rs 7 lakh from her since 2018, the police said. As Anuradha mounted pressure on him to repay the loan, he allegedly hatched a plan to murder her, police said.
On May 12, following a quarrel between the two of them, Chandra Mohan allegedly attacked Anuradha with a knife, stabbing her to death by inflicting injuries in the chest and stomach. Anuradha is believed to have died on the spot. Chandra Mohan then allegedly purchased two small stone-cutting machines to dispose of the body. Police said he cut the body into at least six parts. He allegedly decapitated the head and kept it in a black polythene cover. He then allegedly separated the hands and legs and kept them in a refrigerator, while keeping the trunk in a suitcase, ready for disposal.
On May 15, Chandra Mohan allegedly brought the head to the garbage dumping place in an auto, discarded it, and left. He then allegedly bought phenyl, Dettol, perfume, incense sticks, camphor, etc. and regularly applied them over the body parts to mask the smell of decomposing body parts, police said. Chandra Mohan then took Anuradha’s cell phone and sent messages to her acquaintances to give them the impression that she was alive, according to the police statement. Police said Chandra Mohan was nabbed before he could dispose of any of the remaining body parts. He has been booked under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).