Hyderabad: Man kills wife, tries to pass it off as COVID death

The Vanasthalipuram police detained a man on Saturday who killed his wife suspecting her fidelity and held the final rites of his wife quickly claiming as COVID-19 death and did not allow the relatives to touch the body. However, the woman's relatives who suspected foul play informed the police six days after the funeral.

Getting into details, the accused, Vijay Kumar (25) is an auto driver and was married to R Kavitha (21). Vijay is said to be suspecting Kavitha's fidelity and used to quarrel with her frequently. He later decided to eliminate her after another argument and killed her following a fight.

The accused informed Kavitha's parents that her daughter died due to COVID-19 and took the body in auto to their native place, Dugalya village of Pedda Adisherlapally mandal of Nalgonda district and finished the final rites.

Based on the complaint by Kavitha's parents, the Vanasthalipuram police expedited the investigation by seeking permission from Mandal Revenue Officer of Pedda Adisherlapally to take out the dead body and later send it for autopsy.

The police said that Vijay got his wife tested for COVID-19 but the result came negative. A week later, he committed the crime and claimed that her death was due to COVID-19 to escape from police. The accused was remanded to judicial custody.