HYDERABAD: Shakeel, 35, who allegedly duped a woman of Rs. 2.3 lakhs by luring her with the promise of finding treasure troves, was murdered allegedly by the latter's brother at Jeedimetla after midnight on Tuesday. The accused person Srinivas Goud, 25, later walked into the police station and confessed to his crime.

Goud's family knew the victim for the past few years. "Exploiting the friendship he had with the family, he lured Goud's sister Rameshwari to make a fast buck, leading her to believe that he knew about some treasure troves," Jeedimetla Inspector B. Srinivas Reddy said.

Claims to be a tantrik

Shakeel told the woman that he was a `tantrik' expert and could help her secure treasure by invoking gods using special hymns. With such false assurances, he used to collect money from her now and then. Thus, he allegedly collected Rs. 2.3 lakhs from her in the past couple of years.

"Without informing her husband, the woman mortgaged her jewellery with pawn brokers and went on giving the money to Shakeel. In the process, she ran into a financial crisis," the Inspector explained. On realising that Shakeel bluffed her with false promises, Rameshwari started pressing Shakeel to return her money.

Shakeel refused to return the money and began to threaten to kill her if she revealed the matter to anyone. A month ago, he even attacked the woman with a knife driving her to attempt suicide, the police said. Recently, she poured out her woes to her brother Srinivas who decided to eliminate Shakeel.

On learning that Shakeel was consuming liquor sitting in a dilapidated building at Ambedkarnagar, Srinivas went there around 1 a.m. on Wednesday and smashed his head with a boulder.

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