Man Sets Wife On Fire, Stuffs Body In Suitcase, Tells Family She Died Of COVID-19

An Indian man has been accused of murdering his wife, stuffing her body into a suitcase, and setting it on fire, before going on to lie to his family and in-laws that his partner had succumbed to COVID-19 complications and that her remains were cremated by hospital staff, in an extremely convoluted killing.

A charred corpse beyond recognition was reportedly found inside a suitcase near the Sri Venkata Ramana Ruia (SVRR) Government Hospital in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India on Wednesday, June 23.

With the help of forensic experts and CCTV footage obtained from around the vicinity of the hospital, law enforcement were able to identify the victim as a woman named M. Bhuvaneswari, 27, from Ramasamudram village in Chittoor district. She was reportedly an employee of a leading tech firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in Hyderabad, India Today reported.

Her abusive husband has been ruled the primary suspect in her gruesome killing. Srikanth Reddy, the victim's partner, 30, an engineer by profession, had reportedly lost his job at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Individuals close to the couple claim the husband became an alcoholic in the last few months as he struggled with his unemployment, resulting in frequent heated arguments and fights between the couple.

It is suspected that the married twosome fought on the night of June 22 to 23, and in a fit of rage, Reddy allegedly killed Bhuvaneswari in front of their 18-month-old daughter. He allegedly proceeded to stuff her body into a suitcase, before hiring a taxi.

With the assistance of the cab driver, he dumped the body in a remote area on the outskirts of the hospital compound. Later that day, he returned to the spot, poured petrol on the suitcase, and set it on fire, Hindustan Times reported.

Reddy was identified after police, who were investigating the case, caught the taxi driver who accompanied Reddy to the hospital, after identifying that his vehicle had visited the area from CCTV surveillance footage.

“The body was 90 percent burnt. Reddy bought a big suitcase at Reliance Mart and that is suspected to have been used for the purpose of packing the body. He later tried to burn the body,” Tirupati Urban Police Chief Ramesh Reddy said.

CCTV footage obtained from Reddy's apartment complex reportedly showed him bringing in a suitcase, holding his daughter with one hand, and rolling the big red container with the other. Later he was seen rolling the now apparently heavy suitcase out while struggling to hold his baby in one hand.

Further surveillance footage obtained from the hospital premises also showed him idling around the facility in a taxi. When the police officers nabbed the taxi driver, he confessed to having helped Reddy in disposing of the body, the Times of India reported.

Reddy reportedly told his family and his in-laws that his wife had succumbed to the Delta Plus variant of COVID-19 and that her body was cremated by hospital authorities.

The couple reportedly moved to Tirupati with their 18-month-old daughter as Bhuvaneswari was working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic. A special team formed by Tirupati Urban Police arrested Reddy and brought him for questioning on Tuesday, June 29.