Telangana Nursing Student Found Dead; Autopsy Points to Strangulation
An 18-year-old nursing student was found dead at her Telangana home. Post-mortem findings indicate strangulation, and police have launched a murder investigation.
An 18-year-old first-year nursing student was found dead under suspicious circumstances at her home in Vengannapalem village, Julurupadu mandal, in Telangana's Khammam region, police said.
The student, Harini, was enrolled at a private nursing college in the Khammam area and had recently returned to her native village for the holidays.
According to police, she was found behind the bathroom on the premises of her house after her mother, Rajeshwari, came home and noticed she was missing. A police team and a clues team examined the scene and collected evidence.
Harini's mother, who has been raising her two daughters on daily-wage work since her husband's death, raised suspicion about a person living in the neighbouring house.
The case took a significant turn after the post-mortem examination. Preliminary findings indicated strangulation as the cause of death, and police are now treating the case as murder.
Kothagudem DSP L Adi Narayana said the investigation had been intensified and teams were working to trace the main suspect.
"We were informed that Harini died due to strangulation. Based on the post-mortem findings, the case will be altered from a suspicious-death case to a murder case under Section 103(1) of the BNS. The main suspect is absconding and our teams are making efforts to locate him," the DSP said.
A police source said investigators have identified a few suspects and are conducting searches to arrest them, including a prime suspect believed to be crucial to the case.
"A few suspects have been identified and the hunt is on to nab them, including the prime suspect. We are awaiting detailed forensic and medical reports to conclusively establish whether there was any sexual assault," the source said.
Investigators are questioning people known to the victim and analysing evidence gathered from the scene. Police are also examining the circumstances surrounding Harini's movements before the incident and the subsequent movements of the suspects.