How debt-ridden stock market investor killed top executive's wife

The deceased was identified as Anitha Arun Kumar, 34, wife of Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd (MIDHANI) deputy general manager Arun Kumar Venugopal.

HYDERABAD: A 44-year-old stock market investor has been arrested for allegedly bludgeoning to death a defence PSU executive’s wife at their flat in Dhatu Nagar in Meerpet on Wednesday evening.

After a preliminary investigation, police arrested the stock trader, who lives in the same apartment complex, on Thursday and recovered the jewellery he had stolen from the victim’s flat. He reportedly resorted to the crime to tide over his financial woes.The deceased was identified as Anitha Arun Kumar, 34, wife of Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd (MIDHANI) deputy general manager Arun Kumar Venugopal.According to the Meerpet police, Arun used to drop his two children at school every morning, while Anitha used to bring them home in the evening.Around 8:20am on Wednesday, Arun dropped his two children, an 11-year-old and an eight-year-old, at school. As Anitha did not turn up at the school in the evening, they reached home on their own.

“The children found Anitha lying in a pool of blood on the bedroom floor. They called Arun from her phone. He rushed to the flat and shifted Anitha to a private hospital in an ambulance where she was declared dead,” Meerpet inspector B Shobhan said.

Police also reached the crime scene.During the preliminary probe, police found that an unidentified assailant had entered the flat and gagged Anitha. “She was hit on the head with an iron box. She died due to the bleeding head injury,” the inspector said. After hitting her with the box, the assailant also tried to strangle her with its cable, police added.The assailant also stole 21 tola gold jewellery, including gold bangles, a gold ring and a chain, from the flat.

Police verified CCTV footage at the apartment and surrounding areas. They also questioned neighbours and zeroed in on Raj Kumar, 44, a stock market investor, who lives in a flat above the victim’s in the same apartment.“Raj Kumar had incurred debt of Rs 4 crore due to losses in stock market investments. Due to his financial condition, he decided to kill and steal from the victim, whom he knew would be alone in the flat. The accused’s family members were not at home when the incident happened.

We recovered the stolen gold from his possession. The crime was committed by Raj Kumar alone,” the inspector said. The body of Anitha was handed over to her family on Thursday after the post-mortem examination.

On Arun’s complaint, police registered a case under Section 103 (1) (Murder), 305 (a) (Theft in a dwelling house) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on Wednesday night. According to police, accused Raj Kumar was involved in some cheque bounce cases.