Tenant couple who killed elderly landlady arrested in Tirupati

Tirupati: A tenant couple, who killed a 62-year-old elderly house owner at Cherlopalli village, were arrested by the police in Tirupati on Tuesday. According to Tirupati SP L Subbarayudu, the couple committed the crime to decamp with jewellery and cash to solve their financial problems. The victim, T. Lokeswari, who lived alone, was found dead at her home at Cherlopalli near Tirupati on May 2. Going by the injuries on the deceased's body, police suspected she might have been murdered by the tenants, Reddeppa and Mahalakshmi, who went missing after the elderly lady was found dead. Special police teams formed to investigate the case intercepted the couple near the Kallur cross when they were trying to escape to Vijayawada to evade being arrested by the police. The accused confessed that they choked Lokeswari to death in her sleep and decamped with Rs 50,000 cash and some jewellery, which was later found to be imitation jewellery not made of gold. The accused were produced before the local court and sent to remand on Tuesday. Tirupati SP appealed to the landowners to verify the credentials of their tenants before renting out their properties.