20-year-old Chandana along with boyfriend Omar Shaik murders her sister, arrested

On Saturday, September 2, the Telangana police arrested a 20-year-old girl Chandana and her boyfriend Omer Shaik Sultan along with three others for murdering her 22-year-old sister Banka Deepthi at Korutla town in the Jagtial district. The techie working in Hyderabad was killed at her home on August 29, by the accused couple after a failed attempt at eloping. Since the murder, the couple was absconding.

According to Jagitial Superintendent of Police (SP) Aggadi Bhaskar, the accused, Banka Chandana and Omar Shaik Sultan were apprehended by police on their way to Nagpur on the Armoor-Balkonda road in Nizamabad district. Along with Chandana and Omar, the police also arrested Omar’s mother Mahboob, sister Asiya Fatima and friend Hafeez.

Deepti, a software engineer working for a multinational corporation in Hyderabad, was found dead under strange circumstances at her home in Korutla town, where she was working from home, according to SP Bhaskar.

Police informed that victim Deepthi had learnt that her sister was planning to elope with her boyfriend Omer Shaik Sultan along with the jewellery and cash kept at her home. Meanwhile, the parents of the girl were in Hyderabad to attend a function there. The police said that accused Chadana first made her sister consume alcohol consequently, the victim fell unconscious. Later, accused Omer Shaik arrived and the two were preparing to elope along with the gold jewellery and cash, however, Deepthi regained her senses and confronted the two. Consequently, the two tied her up and covered her mouth and nose with an adhesive tape causing asphyxiation and resulting in her death.

According to the police, accused Omer Shaik Sultan was a batchmate of his girlfriend Banka Chandana while they were doing an engineering course in Hyderabad in 2019. Reportedly, Omer Shaik is originally a resident of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh.

Accused Chandana had been staying at home after finishing the engineering degree, while Omer Shaik Sultan often visited Korutla to meet her. Reportedly, on August 19, the couple met and Chandana asked for him to marry her and take her from her home as her parents would not support their marriage. When he expressed concerns about living without a job and money, Chandana persuaded him and also talked to his family, including his mother Syed Alia Mahaboob, his sister Fathima, and his friend Hafiz, over WhatsApp.

Police investigations, including examining CCTV footage, indicated that Chandana had left the house with a man on the same night. The girl’s father, who filed a police complaint,  voiced concern about his younger daughter, who went missing after the murder.

According to the police, the victim’s brother, who is currently working in Bengaluru, received an audio message on his phone from Chandana, saying she was unaware of the murder. Moreover, Chandana told him that she had gone out after consuming alcohol with Deepthi, who had afterwards fallen asleep. Chandana, however, did not talk about her whereabouts and why she had gone missing.

During interrogation, accused Chandana confessed to her crime. Now, Korutla police have changed the case from suspicious death to murder under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.