Man who killed wife and told family she died of covid, arrested by AP police

27 year old techie who killed his wife by setting her on fire and told relative that she died due to new covd variant Delta Plus has been arrested by Andhra Pradesh police. The police found him through CCTV footage where he was seen on security footage carting the suitcase around. Maramreddy Srikanth Reddy, an engineer, was tracked down to a place near Vijaywada through his mobile, said the police.

Srikanth told his relatives that his wife died during treatment in a hospital and they cremated her as she was covid a patient. But his lies were caught by the police after they found an unidentified charred body found in a suitcase five days ago. The body was found in a charred condition near the government hospital SVR. After investigation the police found out that the victim identified as Bhuvaneswari worked for Cognizant in Hyderabada. 

What helped to nab him was CCTV footage of the apartment, provided by Bhuvaneswari's relative Mamatha, a trainee sub-inspector. After her burnt body was found near a  hospital on June 23, the police had arrested a taxi driver on suspicion the next day. In the interrogation that followed, the taxi driver revealed that Srikanth travelled from his apartment and back carrying a heavy suitcase along with his child.

She was married to Shrikant Reddy in 2019. They also have a one and a half year old daughter. According to reports, the couple moved to Tirupati after Srikanth lost his job in the Coronavirus pandemic. Srikanth, who was unemployed, had started drinking which led to daily fights between the couple. The two also had a fight on the night of June 22-23 after which Srikanth killed Bhuvaneshwari and packed her dead body in a suitcase. He took a taxi and dumped the suitcase in the hospital compound. Later that night he returned and poured gasoline and set the suitcase on fire.

According to police sources, Srikanth informed to his family and father-in-law that his wife had died due to the Delta Plus variant.