In Hyderabad, a Shraddha Walkar rerun, and a friend's beastly act

Hyderabad: By chopping off fingers and private parts of his friend, ripping out his heart by cutting open the stomach and beheading him, Hari Hara Krishna put even the deadliest beast to shame

The engineering student butchered his friend Nenawat Naveen (21) in the most brutal fashion for his alleged fling with his girlfriend, Niharika Reddy.

The bone-chilling nature of the crime shocked the investigators who are trying to find answers why Krishna mutilated the body for two hours after stabbing the victim to death.

The horrific crime was committed at Pedda Amberpet on the outskirts of Hyderabad on February 17 but it came to light a week later when the killer surrendered before the police after the latter launched a hunt for him.

The police investigations revealed that Krishna kept the mutilated organs in a bag and took it to the house of his friend Prabhaliti Hassan at Brahmanapally village on a two-wheeler and took his help in disposing the remains. The duo dumped the organs near Manneguda the same night. He returned to Hassan's house, changed the clothes and spent the night there.

The next morning, Krishna went to Niharika's house to inform her that he had killed Naveen. On February 20, Krishna went to the girl's house again and took her to the place where he had killed Naveen and showed her the body from a distance.

Worried over Naveen's whereabouts, his family members called Krishna. Fearing that his crime may get exposed, he escaped to Khammam. After travelling Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, he went to Warangal to meet his father on February 23. His father informed him that police are on the lookout for him and suggested that he surrender.

According to police, Krishna came to Hyderabad the next day and along with Hassan went to the place in Manneguda where they had thrown Naveen's remains. They brought the organs where he had killed Naveen and set them on fire.

Krishna then went to girlfriend's house and took a bath. From here he went straight to Abdullapurmet police station and surrendered.

Krishna, who was living alone in Hyderabad, had no criminal record and his barbaric act puzzled the police officials. The investigators found that he was hooked to crime videos before carrying out his plan. They suspect that heavy intake of liquor could have blurred his senses to abnormal levels

Police arrested both Niharika for not informing police and Hassan for erasing evidence.

Police investigation revealed that Krishna and Naveen were classmates during intermediate (10+2). Naveen was in love with Niharika but they later drifted apart due to some differences.

The girl subsequently grew close to Krishna and they have been in a relationship for some time. Naveen allegedly started making calls and texting the girl.

Krishna murdered Naveen after taking him out on his bike for a joyride. He took him to an isolated place, pushed him to the ground and strangled him. "Krishna chopped off Naveen's fingers and private parts with a knife. Not stopping at that he ripped out heart and severed his head," Deputy Commissioner of Police B. Sai Sri

Hyderabad witnessed another horrific crime last week. A man murdered his live-in partner and cut her body into pieces with a stone cutting machine.

The accused had preserved the legs and hands of the victim in a refrigerator in his house and was spraying disinfectants and perfumes to avoid foul smell in the vicinity.

The case brought back memories of Delhi's Shraddaa Walkar and Nikki Yadav murders in which the accused had stored body parts of the victims in refrigerators to dispose of them.

The shocking crime came to light on May 25 after Hyderabad police solved the mystery behind a severed head found near the Musi river in the city on May 17.

Sanitation workers had found the severed head at a garbage dumping. Malakpet police had registered a case and formed eight teams to crack the case.

According to police, B. Chandra Mohan, a bachelor who was doing online trading on the stock market, was in an illegal relationship with Yarram Anuradha Reddy (55), a former nurse-turned-money lender.

The woman who was separated from her husband long back was living with Chandra Mohan at his house in Chaitanyapuri colony in Dilsukhnagar.

Differences cropped up between them after Anuradha started demanding Mohan to repay Rs 7 lakhs he had taken from her to trade online. Vexed with her repeated demands, he hatched a plan to kill her.

On May 12, the accused picked up a quarrel with the deceased at his house and attacked her with a knife. He inflicted stab injuries over her chest and stomach, resulting in her death.

"After committing the murder, the accused purchased two small stone-cutting machines in order to cut the body into pieces and dispose of them. He cut the head and kept it in a black polythene cover. He then separated the legs and hands and preserved them in the refrigerator and kept the torso in a suitcase for disposal," said Rupesh Chennuri, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South East Zone.

On May 15, he brought the severed head of the deceased in an autorickshaw near Musi River and dumped it there. Subsequently, the accused bought phenyl, Dettol, perfume, incense sticks, Karpuram and sprayed them regularly over the body parts of the deceased to camouflage the stench. He watched videos on social media on how to dispose of body parts, clean blood stains and prevent the stench.

According to police, using the cell phone of the deceased, he kept sending messages to persons known to her to make them believe that she is alive and staying somewhere.

After thorough investigation involving scanning of CCTV footage and use of other technology tools, police achieved the breakthrough by identifying the accused.

The police teams sifted through over 200 hours of CCTV footage and examined details of 60 vehicles and 90 suspects to pinpoint the person who threw a black polythene cover containing the severed head.

According to police, about 60 per cent of the murder cases reported in Hyderabad are crimes of passion. The main reason for the homicide is found to be an extra-marital affair. In most of the cases it was a love triangle and disputes arising out of it.

Murders involving sexual jealousy are found to be brutal and more violent compared to others. Investigators attribute it to long planning and the high level of anger or jealousy.

"Increased tolerance for crime, lack of empathy, lack of remorse/guilt , high drive for rage, pleasure of dominance, lack a sense of social conscience impulsivity, poor threshold for human suffering can be few factors why one commits a heinous crime of this magnanimity," observes Dr Charan Teja Koganti , Consultant Neuropsychiatrist, KIMS Hospitals, Kondapur

"Brain scans of criminals show decreased connectivity between the amygdala, which is a brain region that processes negative stimuli and those that give rise to fearful reactions and the prefrontal cortex, which interprets responses from the amygdala. When connectivity between these two regions is low, processing of negative stimuli in the amygdala does not translate into any strongly felt negative emotions hence they retort to crime of this magnitude," Dr Koganti explained.

Get the news updates on WhatsApp & Telegram by subscribing to our channels. For all the latest Hyderabad updates, download our app Android and iOS.