Betting Addiction Turns Deadly: Cop, Wife Kill Realtor

Addicted to online betting, a police Constable along with his wife murdered a realtor to loot the gold he was wearing in order to clear their mounting debts, police said on Thursday.

The shocking crime took place in Telangana's Siddipet town last week but came to light on Wednesday after police cracked the case and arrested the couple.

Police investigations revealed Gauthi Praveen, working as Constable in the Central Crime Station (CCS) at Siddipet district headquarters, and his wife Rajitha murdered Belde Vishwanatham (57), a realtor, on May 2 and looted 10 tolas of gold on his body.

Police, which had registered a missing case on a complaint by the victim's family, recovered his body from a canal near Imambad on May 3 and took up the investigation.

Based on the CCTV footage, police identified the killers and arrested them.

Police investigations revealed that Praveen and his wife had lost Rs 60 lakh in online betting and had accumulated debts to the tune of Rs 30 lakh.

The Constable had mortgaged a plot of his brother with Vishwanatham for Rs 12 lakh. As he had failed to pay the amount to the realtor, the latter suggested that he sell the plot.

However, the Constable promised to show him an alternate plot.

On May 2, the accused along with his wife took Vishwanatham in their car to an isolated place near Peddakoduru.

"The couple allegedly tied the hands and legs of the realtor in the car and strangled him to death with a wire. They took 10 tolas of gold he was wearing and dumped the body in a canal near Imambad," a police official said.

Later, the couple went to Hyderabad and sold the looted gold at a jewellery shop.

When Vishwanatham did not return home, his wife lodged a complaint with Chinnakoduru Police Station.

The Task Force under the leadership of Assistant Commissioner of Police Ravinder Reddy began an investigation and found his body in the canal.

Based on CCTV footage and other scientific evidence, the investigators identified the accused and arrested them.

The subsequent investigations also revealed Praveen and Rajitha on April 25 robbed an elderly woman in their neighborhood on the pretext of taking her to a hospital in their car.

The accused robbed the woman of the gold chain she was wearing and sold the same at a shop in Hyderabad for Rs 4.80 lakh. The couple lost the entire money in betting.

It also came to light that Praveen had accompanied the woman to One Town Police Station to lodge a complaint about the theft of her gold chain.