Nurse poured acid on lover ‘to pass him off as husband she killed’
Indian police say scheme failed after victim’s family realised man in hospital bed was not their relative
AN INDIAN woman and her lover allegedly plotted to kill her husband then tried to pass off the boyfriend as the dead man by disfiguring his face with acid.
Officials said police had charged Swathi Reddy, 34, in Nagarkurnool, Telangana state, with murdering her husband Sudhakar Reddy last Friday and would arrest her lover Rajesh Ajjakolu, a physiotherapist, once he was discharged from hospital after undergoing treatment for facial burns.
Mrs Reddy had confessed to injecting her husband with an anaesthetic on Nov 27 and, after he lost consciousness, bludgeoned him to death with an iron rod with Mr Ajjakolu, police said.
The pair then disfigured her husband’s face and dumped his body in the nearby Nawabpet forest after partially burning it to prevent identification, according to Inspector Srinivas Rao, the investigating police officer.
Mrs Reddy, a trained nurse, then smeared Mr Ajjakolu’s face with a mixture of acid and petrol, partially disfiguring his face – hoping that he would go on to have plastic surgery and ultimately be able to start living as her husband.
She raised the alarm, saying four people had broken into her house and attacked Mr Reddy with acid. Her lover, who was now masquerading as her husband, was then admitted to hospital in Hyderabad to undergo burns treatment and plastic surgery. However, fearing exposure, Mr Ajjakolu pretended that he could not speak and communicated only through writing.
Police said Mrs Reddy’s in-laws became suspicious that Mr Ajjakolu was not their son when he declined mutton soup, having registered himself with the hospital as a vegetarian, while Mr Reddy was a meat eater.
Other behavioural differences raised their suspicions and they filed a complaint with the police that the man in hospital was an impostor.
According to Insp Rao, Mrs Reddy continually changed her statement under sustained interrogation, further fuelling doubt over Mr Ajjakolu’s identity. He said she eventually broke down and admitted that she had been having an affair with Mr Ajjakolu, some months after beginning physiotherapy sessions at his clinic two years ago.
Insp Rao said Mrs Reddy and Mr
‘The pair then disfigured her husband’s face and dumped his body in a forest’
Ajjakolu were spotted together in a car a few days before the alleged murder, and her husband had accused her of having an affair.
Fearing they would be exposed, the lovers then hatched the elaborate plan, hoping Mr Ajjakolu could undergo plastic surgery and emerge as Mr Reddy.
They also planned that he would take over Mr Reddy’s many properties and business interests.
Insp Rao claimed that Ms Reddy had confessed the plan and that the person being treated in the hospital for facial burns was not her husband.
She is also believed to have identified the spot where her husband’s body was buried.