The Ibrahimpatnam police in Andhra Pradesh’s NTR district on Sunday arrested a 35-year-old man for allegedly killing a 30-year-old woman, dismembering her body and dumping the remains in a cooling canal leading to the Narla Tatarao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS), police said.
The accused, Mohd Shafi of Bhavanipuram in Vijayawada, allegedly killed Valluripalli Kalyani, a native of Tadinada village in Eluru district who was staying at Mangalagiri near Vijayawada. Police circulated details and photographs of the unidentified body through social media and other channels. Kalyani’s brother subsequently approached the police after recognising a tattoo on her hand, helping investigators establish her identity.
Police said another man, Durga Rao alias Abdullah, who allegedly helped Shafi dismember and dispose of the body, is absconding. “The body was cut into 10 pieces and dumped in the cooling canal,” assistant commissioner of police (west zone) N S V K Durga Rao said.
What investigation revealed
The case came to light on September 18 when police recovered the torso of an unidentified woman from the canal near the thermal power station. On September 17, she told him she would come to Bhavanipuram for money. With the assistance of an NDRF team, police searched the canal and subsequently recovered the woman’s head, legs and a hand. The body parts were sent to Vijayawada government hospital for postmortem examination. Shafi allegedly sent his wife and children to relatives in Guntur before her arrival.
Police said Kalyani later became close to Shafi and began demanding more money from him.
