On Thursday morning, Kusuma returned to her house after spending some time talking to a ward volunteer on the street. She believed her 20-year-old daughter Divya was sleeping in their house, in Vijayawada’s Christurajapuram. On finding the door locked, and with no response from her daughter, she called the neighbours to help break the door, only to find Divya lying in a pool of blood.
Divya was found with knife injuries to her throat, abdomen and hand. Also lying on the floor was Nagendra Babu, the man suspected to have killed her, according to The New Indian Express. Nagendra was reportedly found with injuries to his neck and wrist. The police also found a piece of cloth tied to the fan.
According to some reports, Nagendra, who lives in the same neighbourhood, had been allegedly stalking Divya.
Neighbours have told reporters that Nagendra seemed to have entered the house by jumping over the back wall, while Divya’s mother was away.
Although Divya was taken to a hospital, she succumbed to her injuries. Nagendra is reportedly in a critical state, undergoing treatment at a hospital in Guntur.
According to The Hindu, Vijayawada Commissioner of Police Bathini Sreenivasulu told the media that while there are no witnesses to the incident, Nagendra is being considered as the suspect. The police have registered a case, and the investigation is going on to establish the motive behind the crime. The Commissioner also said that Nagendra is in a critical state and is unable to speak clearly. The police will record his statement once his condition improves, TNIE reported.
The police have registered a case under sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 449 (house-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with death) of the Indian Penal Code.
Divya was studying at an engineering college in Bhimavaram, and had been staying at her home in Vijayawada since the lockdown began.
Nagendra's relatives have reportedly claimed that Divya had been in a relationship with him, and that they even got married recently. Divya's family, on the other hand, has denied any relationship between the two. Commissioner Sreenivasulu reportedly said that police will verify the claims of marriage.