Visakhapatnam: Woman's Body Dumped In A Drum, Found In Locked House After 1.5 Years. Man Arrested

The murder took place on May 30, 2021 when the victim visited the accused Rishi's house at PM Palem while his wife was away.

Chennai: The PM Palem police arrested a man 18 months after he allegedly killed a woman with whom he had a physical relationship in Vishakapatnam on Tuesday.

After the murder, the 28-year-old youth reportedly put the body of the woman in a zip-lock cover, dumped it in an air-tight drum, locked his home and escaped with the keys. The issue came to light only when the house owner broke open his house for cleaning and found the body. 

Following this, the house owner gave a complaint to PM Palem police station who swiftly acted in 48 hours and arrested the accused. The accused has been identified as Rishi. 

Senior IPS officer Ch Srikanth, CP said, “Accused Rishi has been arrested for killing a woman he had an illegal affair with by strangling her and packing the body in a zip bag and keeping it in a drum in his rented accommodation. The deceased's body was found after 1.5 years of the incident by the owner of the house.”

“The accused was absconding for a long time. The deceased, identified as Dhana Lakshmi, was killed as she had demanded Rs 2,000 from the accused. We tried to identify her on basis of call data. The body of the deceased will be sent for DNA test,” he said. 

On May 29, 2021 Rishi first met the 25-year-old woman at Srikakulam RTC bus stop and the duo took the same auto-rickshaw from Srikakulam to Nathavalasa junction. The duo soon became friends, shared the contact number and decided to meet the next day.

On May 30, the victim visited Rishi's house at PM Palem while his wife was away and the duo had a physical relationship. However, after the act, the woman reportedly demanded money from him. Rishi immediately said that he was unable to pay the sum but the woman allegedly threatened that she will inform the about the matter to the locals. Fearing this, Rishi strangled her with her scarf, wrapped her in a cover and stuffed her in a plastic drum. He later locked his home and left with the keys. He never returned to the place after the incident in the fear of getting caught. He also shifted with his family to Visakhapatnam.