Realtor’s murder rocks city

HYDERABAD: Police on Tuesday identified the body found buried in the kitchen of a house at Uppal as that of Naveesh Murthy, 40, a realtor from Punjagutta. Murthy had been missing since Friday.
Following complaints of a foul smell by neighbours, police late Monday night raided the house at Srinagar Colony in Uppal and recovered Murthy’s body, which was wrapped in a blanket.Inspector M Sarveshwar Reddy said the slain realtor was identified by his friends Veeraiah Yadav and Sunil.
Preliminary inquiries indicated that Murthy was smothered to death and buried in the kitchen. However, the concrete slab developed a crack and a foul smell started emanating from it. A neighbour, G Krishnaveni, grew suspicious and called police.
The inspector, while refusing to name any suspect, said Naveesh Murthy had had disputes with a realtor and was facing several criminal cases.
Krishnaveni, who works at CCMB in Habsiguda, told The Times of India that a stench had been emanating from next door in the last two days. “I alerted my neighbour, T Lingamaiah, who is a customer care manager at Janaharsha Real Estate Ventures, but he did not respond. On Monday evening, I informed police,’’ she said.
As the body could not be extricated on Monday, a compressor was brought in to break the concrete slab to free the body. Forensic experts of Gandhi Hospital who came to the house to conduct the post-mortem, said Murthy was smothered to death two days ago. There were no external injuries on the body.