Priest sentenced to life imprisonment for murder of aspiring actress in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: A priest, Iyyagari Venkata Sai Krishna, was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a life term by the Rangareddy district court on Wednesday. The verdict against Sai Krishna came in a case registered at Shamshabad of Cyberabad in June 2023, where he killed an aspiring TV actress, Kuruganti Apsara, dumped her body in an unused manhole, and sealed it with red soil and cement. The court also fined him 10 lakh, directing him to pay 9.75 lakh to the victim's family and 25,000 to the court. Under the pretext of dropping her off at Shamshabad for a trip to Coimbatore with her friends, Sai Krishna took Apsara to Shamshabad and killed her. He drove back home with her body in the boot and dumped it in a septic tank in Saroor Nagar. The incident came to light when police investigated the missing case lodged by Sai Krishna. As he referred to the victim's mother as sister, he complained to the police that his niece (Apsara) had gone missing. According to police, the victim's mother would frequently visit the temple where the accused was a priest. Through her, he became acquainted with the victim, and they entered into a relationship in early 2023. Though Sai Krishna was already married, he promised to marry the victim. As Apsara started pressuring him for marriage, he killed her. After driving the victim to Shamshabad in his car, he took her to a construction site and bludgeoned her to death, the police said. After returning home at Saroor Nagar, he left the car with the body in the boot in the parking lot for two days, spraying room fresheners every day to conceal the odour. Later, he dumped the body in a septic tank in a govt office complex near his house, filled the area with sand, and sealed it with cement, said a police official. The case was built on circumstantial evidence, linking all events from the time the victim left home until her decomposed body was recovered from the septic tank and, in turn, connected them with the convict. The court examined the evidence and pronounced him guilty of murder, said Addl Public Prosecutor V Ravi Kumar.

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