The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Telugu actor found murdered

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 17, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Telugu actor found murdered

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: An up and coming actor, Kola Bhargavi, was found murdered in her house at Banjara Hills here on Tuesday even as another body of an orchestra troupe operator, Praveen Kumar, lying next to her, triggered speculation about the motive behind their deaths.

While a note purportedly written by Kumar stated that disturbances in personal life drove them to suicide, police believe he stabbed her to death before ending his life by consuming cyanide. A blood-stained dagger, some cyanide powder packed in a paper and the suicide note were recovered from the scene.

There were deep knife wounds on her body, one near left shoulder and another on left side of abdomen.

The other five wounds were not so deep, police said. The room was not in disarray to indicate a struggle, but the mattress was completely soaked with blood.

Bhargavi lived in a rented house in Venkateswaranagar and shifted to the third-floor portion of another building on the adjacent lane two months ago.

The house owner, Dastagiramma, told the police that though Bhargavi and her mother visited the house before renting it, Kumar who identified himself as her maternal uncle paid the rent advance. He used to drop in now and then.

The actress returned from a trip to her Gorantla village in Guntur district on Monday and was to attend shooting of a new film on Tuesday morning.

The film unit sent a car to her house with driver Ramesh, who waited outside the house from around 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

As the actress did not turn up, the film unit members Srikanth and Prashant drove to her place to find out what had happened.

“With none responding to repeated calls, they pushed open the door only to see Bhargavi and Kumar dead,” Banjara Hills ACP V. Ramakrishnaiah said.

Clad in a pair of jeans and red top, the actress was lying on her back on the cot with seven knife wounds. Kumar’s body lay beside her with his head resting on her lap.

Soft drink spilt on the floor and blue-tinged nails of Kumar led police to believe he may have mixed cyanide in that drink.

They believe the actress was murdered after 6.30 a.m. as she took a call on her mobile phone before that and was about to leave for the film shoot.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh