Techie murdered for asking back loan, body buried inside house in Andhra Pradesh

A 30-year-old software engineer who went missing from Attibele was found murdered and buried inside the house of his cousin in Andhra Pradesh.

The deceased has been identified as Srinath, a native of Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh and a resident of Nerluru near Attibele. Srinath worked in a tech company and lived with his wife and four-year-old daughter.

The Attibele police, based on a missing case, tracked down the accused and arrested Prabhakar, a plumber and Srinath’s cousin, and his friend Jagadish, a distant relative, from their hometown on Monday.

A probe revealed that Prabhakar had borrowed ₹40 lakh from Srinath promising to invest the money and get him high returns, but failed to even return the principal amount. When Srinath recently demanded his money back, Prabhakar allegedly hatched a plan to eliminate him, said the police.

He called Srinath to Kuppam saying he would return the money. Srinath informed his wife and left for Prabhakar’s house. After reaching the house, Srinath once again asked Prabhakar to return the money. Prabhakar allegedly picked up a hammer and struck Srinath on the head, killing him on the spot, said the police.

With the help of his friend Jagadish, Prabhakar dug a pit inside the same house, buried the body, and covered it. He then pretended ignorance when Srinath’s wife asked about his whereabouts.

When Srinath did not return home after two days, his wife filed a missing person complaint at the Attibele police station. Based on her complaint, the police picked up the duo for questioning and during interrogation, Prabhakar and Jagadish gave contradictory statements.

Under sustained questioning, the duo allegedly confessed to the murder and revealed that the body was buried inside the house in Kuppam.

A team of the Attibele police, along with the Kuppam tahsildar, visited the spot and exhumed the buried body. The accused have been arrested and further investigation is under way.