HYDERABAD: Irked with her 12-year-old step daughter's disapproval of her marriage to her father, a 30-year-old woman killed the girl, peeled off her facial skin to conceal the child’s identity, and dumped the body a few metres away from home. The accused Pitla Nagamani committed the brutal murder about one month ago, in Medchal of Cyberabad.
According to police, Nagamani got married to Jyothika’s father Subramanyam in November 2018. However, it is learnt that Jyothika, who did not approve of the marriage, frequently quarrelled with her father on the matter. She also fought with Nagamani, accusing her of not taking proper care of her. With the situation being such, Nagamani and her sons from her first marriage were staying in a rented house separately. They only used to visit Subramanyam’s home occasionally.
However, fights between the child and Nagamani ensued even during these visits. It is suspected that Nagamani decided to kill Jyothika, as she was unable to bear the trouble she had to face because of the child. The accused had expected that she could live happily with Subramanyam once Jyothika was killed. Even on July 19, Nagamani had gone to Subramanyam’s house for one of her regular visits.
However, Jyothika who was alone at the house, immediately started to fight with Nagamani. The quarrel even caused the television set in the house to fall down and get damaged. Nagamani, who managed to make it appear as if they have reached a compromise, took the opportunity to strangulate Jyothika with a towel.
After making sure the girl was dead, she took a hacksaw blade and peeled off Jyothika’s facial skin. Her eyes were also gouged out in the process. Later, she packed the body in a plastic bag and dumped it in the garbage dump around 10 metres away from the house. After that, she dropped her children at her relatives’ place and fled.
The police identified the deceased based on her clothes. Corroborating Nagamani’s sons’ admission that they had last seen Jyothika with her and other technical evidence, police established her role in the murder and arrested her.