HYDERABAD: Padma, the suspected killer of seven-year-old Sujatha at Jubilee Hills last night, is proving to be a hard nut to crack for the police. Though the evidence points to her involvement in the brutal killing the woman’s contradictory versions are confusing the police.
‘‘Padma’s version of unidentified miscreants entering the house lacks any evidence. Further, there is little scope for such a thing happening,’’ a police official said.
Meanwhile, police could not find any clues at the scene of offence as Padma poured water on the girl’s body.
‘‘Though Padma claimed that she poured water to douse flames, it had erased all the clues,’’ an investigating officer said. Sniffer dogs too were of no help as water washed away the scent of the killer too, he added.
Police found two bottles of kerosene — one full and another half empty — in the house.
‘‘We zeroed in on Padma to be the possible killer but we are yet to ascertain the motive. She is giving contradictory versions and we are trying to find some missing links,’’ DCP West Zone C Ravi Verma said.
At one stage Padma confessed to the killing but later retracted her statement, an investigator said.
Initial investigations revealed that even before marriage Padma had an affair with a person in her native Makthal in Mahaboobnagar.
She might still be continuing the affair which accidentally might have been noticed by Sujatha.
Fearing that the girl might reveal it to others, Padma could have eliminated her, the police suspected. They are on a hunt for her paramour.
Meanwhile, the police gave a clean chit to Padma’s husband, Venkatesh, after finding that he was not present in the house when the killing took place.