Missing Balapur woman axed and torched, ashes dumped in drain

HYDERABAD: Two months after she went missing, a 60-year-old woman was found murdered, her body burnt and the ashes dumped in a drain in Balapur.
Police said upset with B Balamma’s public humiliation of him over his failure to return `10,000, the accused, Ramudu, killed her with an axe in a farm field and disposed of her body by burning it.
Police said Balamma who went missing on October 27 was killed on the same day by Ramudu, who asked her to come to the agriculture field where he was a farm labourer and promised to return the `10,000 loan he had taken from her. Before burning her body, the accused removed six grams of gold and 153 grams of silver ornaments from her person.
During the initial stages of investigation, police found that Balamma was last seen in the company of Ramudu. When he was grilled, he feigned ignorance about her. A few days ago, a woman with whom Ramudu allegedly had an illicit relationship was questioned about Balamma.
“She told us that she was unaware of Balamma’s whereabouts but disclosed that Ramudu gave her a few gold and silver ornaments. When we verified the ornaments, we came to know that they belonged to Balamma. That’s how we were able to crack the murder mystery of Balamma,” a Rachakonda police official told TOI.
Following the woman’s confession, police confronted Ramudu again on the ornaments. Finally, he spilled the beans. “He told us that he murdered her on October 27 itself. He later dumped her ashes in a drain in Balapur,” the police official said. Cops recovered some burnt bones from the place where he burnt the body.
The farm labourer nursed a grudge against Balamma ever since she humiliated him in front of locals after he failed to repay the loan. “When she went to the farm field, Ramudu was chopping a tree with an axe. Using the axe, he attacked her killing her instantaneously,” police said.