Andhra Pradesh: Public prosecutor’s ‘natural death’ turns out to be murder

VIJAYAWADA: Nearly two months after the ‘natural death’ of Akbar Azam (50), who was the public prosecutor of special Pocso court in Kakinada, it has been found that it was a murder which his wife committed with the help of two others. The crime came to light on Saturday when police exhumed the body of Azam and conducted a fresh autopsy following a complaint lodged by the deceased’s father. While the woman was arrested on Sunday, her two accomplices were arrested on Monday.It was a WhatsApp message in the phone of Azam’s wife that unveiled the plot. His father Mohammed Hussain (74), who had doubts over his son’s natural death theory, went to the police on August 17.Victim's wife mixed sleeping pills in his food, then strangled him to deathHe said he had found some incriminating information in the mobile phone of his son's wife, following which Kakinada One Town police launched a fresh investigation into the case. A few days before his death, Azam had bought a new phone for his wife and gave her old phone to his father. While scanning through old WhatsApp chats and voice messages, Hussain recently found that his daughter-in-law Unnisa Begum used to have long conversations with Rajesh Jain (35) from Rajasthan, who runs a cloth store in the town, and Kosuri Kiran (32), a medicine representative, who both stayed in the same building as his son.The woman told the police during interrogation that on the night of June 23, she mixed sleeping pills in his food. When he went into deep sleep post dinner, she opened the door for Kiran who poured chloroform on a pillow and strangulated him to death, while Rajesh kept watch outside the flat. Later, Unnisa claimed that her husband died of heart attack.Following her confession, police have registered a case of murder against Azam's wife and her two accomplices. Police also suspect that she was in a relationship with Rajesh which may have led her to plan the murder. The 36-year-old Unnisa from Yanam was Azam's second wife, with whom he had a daughter and a son. His first wife died about 15 years ago after giving birth to a girl. Azam's parents live in Kakinada in another house