The Rachakonda police on Saturday, July 3, arrested 25-year-old Ramavath Vijay, a resident of Vanasthalipuram in Hyderabad, for allegedly killing his wife and claiming that she had died due to COVID-19. This is the second such incident being reported from the Telugu states. A day earlier, the Tirupati police had arrested a techie identified as Srikanth Reddy, who had killed his wife and attempted to cover up the murder saying she had died of COVID-19.
According to the Rachakonda police, Vijay, an auto driver, killed his wife, Kavitha (21), while she was asleep on June 18 at around 3 am, by smothering her with a pillow. The accused suspected his wife’s fidelity, the police said. After killing Kavitha, Vijay told her parents that she had died due to COVID-19. And subsequently, to evade any suspicion, he immediately took the dead body in his auto rickshaw to Pelligundla Thanda, his native village in Nalgonda district, for her funeral.
Though Vijay tried to ensure that nobody came in contact with the body under the pretext of her being infected with novel coronavirus and quickly finished the final rites, his efforts failed and eventually led to his arrest.
Suspicion arose when neither of Kavitha’s parents were infected with SARS-CoV-2 despite having come in contact with her body. Following this, Kavitha’s mother, Dhanavath Bujji, approached the Vanasthalipuram police under the Rachakonda police commissionerate on June 24, alleging foul play over her daughter’s death. The Vanasthalipuram police promptly exhumed the body in the presence of local officials and conducted a spot autopsy. During the course of investigation, police found that Kavitha did not die of COVID-19.
In this premeditated crime, Vijay got Kavitha tested for COVID-19. She tested negative, and seven days later, he killed her and falsely claimed that she died due to a coronavirus infection. Police said that Vijay tried to “screen himself from the guilt” and thought that he could evade any suspicion if he did not let the family members and relatives closely inspect the dead body.
The police investigation revealed that the couple had marital problems, as Vijay suspected that his wife was having a relationship with another man. Police said that it was a pre-planned murder. The accused was arrested on Saturday, July 3, and produced before the court.
In the same manner, Srikanth Reddy from Andhra Pradesh had smothered his wife, Bhuvaneshwari, to death, and lied to her parents that she died to COVID-19. The incident took place on June 22. After killing her, Srikanth used a large suitcase to shift her body and dispose of it. In the premises of Ruia Hospital in Tirupati, he burnt the body along with the suitcase. A day later, the charred body was found, and with the help of CCTV footage, police could arrest the accused.