Hyderabad shocker: Priest murders female devotee amid marriage pressure; twisted details of love story

After back-to-back murders of live-in partners were reported from Mumbai and Bengaluru, another love story turned deadly when a man murdered his alleged partner in Hyderabad, to escape from the pressure of marriage by the victim woman.

A married priest from Hyderabad, identified as Ayyagari Sai Krishna, was charged with the brutal murder of a 30-year-old woman called Kuruganti Apsara. The police have alleged that the two were in the middle of a love affair, which became deadly due to marital pressure.

The priest reportedly dumped the body of the victim woman in a drainage behind the Registrar's office in Telangana's Saroornagar, after which he went to the police station to file a missing persons’ report to deflect suspicion of the murder from himself.

As per the police report filed by him, the priest claimed that he had dropped off Apsara at a nearby bus stand as she was planning to travel to Bhadrachalam. Sai Krishna further claimed that the victim had been missing since May 3, and had not been responding to any of his calls.

While the two were having an affair, the accused claimed that Apsara was his niece. However, the police grew suspicious after examining the CCTV footage and other technical evidence and decided to bring in Sai Krishna for questioning.

While being interrogated by the police, the priest confessed to the murder of Apsara and revealed that she was his devotee and lover. He said that the victim was pressuring him to marry her, but he was already married with two children and was having an extramarital affair.

Sai Krishna killed Apsara by smashing her head with a stone and then packed her body in plastic to throw it inside a manhole near his temple, where he worked as a priest.