Hyderabad: Unable to keep up with EMIs on a house he had bought for ₹36 lakh, a 31-year-old man allegedly strangled his grandmother and stole her gold and silver jewellery in Thoopranpet village of Choutuppal.
Police said Raju, who was in the milk business, had recently purchased a house in Bank Colony, Thoopranpet, for ₹36 lakh with a bank loan. Struggling to pay the monthly EMIs, he allegedly knew that Yadamma had about 5.6 tolas of gold and 1.6 kg of silver jewellery. Police recovered two gold chains weighing 5.6 tolas, earrings and other gold ornaments, besides 1.6 kg of silver jewellery, all worth ₹12.5 lakh, from Raju.
A postmortem confirmed that Yadamma had been murdered.
Police said he confessed to the murder. Raju asked Yadamma to give him the jewellery so he could pledge it and use the money to pay his EMIs, according to police. Police examined technical evidence, including call records, and found that her grandnephew Mantipalli Raju was in frequent contact with her. Investigators also became suspicious when Raju, who was close to Yadamma and regularly looked after her, did not attend her funeral. He was later produced before a court and remanded in judicial custody. When she refused, saying the jewellery belonged to the family, he allegedly strangled her to death. A two-wheeler and mobile phone were also seized.
Choutuppal DSP P Madhusudhan Reddy said Raju was taken into custody on Wednesday and questioned.
Mantipalli Yadamma (70), who lived alone, was found dead under suspicious circumstances on Aug 27. Choutuppal police registered a murder case and launched an investigation. Her relative Darshan alerted police after noticing that the gold ornaments she usually wore were missing.