Snehalatha's body was found at an isolated field on the outskirts of Dharmavaram.
Highlights
- Snehalatha was employed by SBI on a contract basis
- She had reportedly distanced herself from Rajesh after she got the job
- Snehalatha and Rajesh spoke 1,618 times in one year: Police
A 19-year-old woman who worked at the State Bank of India was killed allegedly by her former boyfriend, who then set her body on fire in Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur district, police said. The accused, now arrested, was reportedly angry over the woman's relationship with another man.
According to the police, Snehalatha dated the accused, Gooty Rajesh, who worked as a mason, but had reportedly distanced herself after she got a contract job in the bank. She later grew close to her classmate in college, and this allegedly angered Rajesh, who devised a plan to kill her. Call records revealed that Snehalatha and Rajesh spoke 1,618 times in the last one year, police added.
On Tuesday, Rajesh called Snehalatha for a meeting, took her on his bike and strangled her during an argument over her friendship with her classmate, police said.
"En route to Ananthapuramu, Gooty Rajesh (the accused) stopped the bike near a field at Badanapalli and starting questioning her about her intimacy with (her classmate) Praveen. This resulted in an argument. He choked her to death and to conceal the identity, he burnt her bank papers and put it on her body, due to which her body was partially burnt. No sexual assault or intercourse took place," senior police officer Bhusarapu Sathya Yesu Babu said.
The police was alerted when the woman's family filed a complaint after she failed to return home. Snehalatha's body was found at an isolated field around 25 kms from her workplace.
The woman's family told the police Rajesh used to stalk the victim. Her mother has also named Karthik, a friend of Rajesh, as co-conspirator. The police are investigating his possible role in the crime.
Rajesh was picked up for questioning and he later confessed to the crime, the police officer added.
"During the course of investigation, the main accused Gooty Rajesh was taken into custody. He confessed his crime and we also recovered the mobile phone of the victim, which was hidden by him. The call analysis revealed that the girl and the accused were in close contact with each other and 1618 calls took place between the two in a year," he added.