Telangana shocker: Man chops cousin, dumps body in lake over land row

HYDERABAD: A man who had lodged a missing complaint about his cousin has now turned out to be her alleged killer. The 42-year-old woman, who ran a grocery store in Abdullapurment, was killed, her body sawed into pieces and dumped in a water body at Masjidpur village in Abdullapurmet over a property dispute.

The body was recovered on Tuesday and the alleged culprit, Pappuram Kumavath, and his two aides were arrested on Wednesday.

It was on March 8 that Abdullapurmet police received a complaint from Pappuram, claiming that his cousin Leela Devi had been missing since Feb 28.

But after initial probe police suspected foul play as Pappuram was giving inconsistent answers. On being grilled further with technical evidence, Pappuram spilled the beans, disclosing that he had conspired and killed his cousin over a plot, police said. Pappuram used to work at the woman's grocery store, police said.

Based on his confession, police found her decomposed body parts – two legs and remaining body – at Pedda Cheruvu's water outlet.

"A few years ago, Leela Devi and he had bought a 120 sq yd plot by pooling money. However, the property was registered in the name of Pappuram. Of late, she had been insisting that her name be included as a joint owner. Upset over this, he killed Leela Devi," Abdullapurmet inspector V Ashok Reddy said.

Pappuram had roped in her another employee, Rakesh, who was unhappy with Leela Devi for being a tough taskmaster, and Sunil, who runs an eatery and had a strained relationship with the woman. Both have been arrested.

The woman was killed on Feb 28. Pappuram had allegedly hit her on the head with a stick. Two days later, the trio shifted her body to Pedda Cheruvu, where it was chopped with a chainsaw. Subsequently, they dumped the body parts at the outlet expecting that they would get washed away, which didn't happen, police said.