Woman Kills Husband, Disfigures Boyfriend's Face With Acid To Make Him Replacement

A woman from southern India murdered her husband and disfigured her boyfriend so he could impersonate the husband and take possession of his assets, police said Tuesday.

The woman, M Swathi, 27, along with her boyfriend Rajesh murdered her husband, M Sudhakar Reddy, 32, from Nagarkurnool in the state of Telangana and dumped the body in a forest in Mahabubnagar.

According to a Times of India report, Swathi and Rajesh gave Reddy an anesthetic injection while he was asleep, and later beat him with an iron rod and killed him.

A Lakshmi Narayana, a senior police officer from Nagarkurnool told the newspaper: “Sudhakar Reddy was operating a stone-crushing unit. He married Swathi, a trained nurse, and the couple was blessed with two children. Swathi would go to Rajesh for physiotherapy and later they started having an affair. The duo felt Sudhakar was an obstacle in their relationship and decided to eliminate him. They hatched a conspiracy to ensure Rajesh could take the place of Sudhakar and even take control over properties.”

After they killed Reddy, Swathi poured acid on her boyfriend’s face, and took him to a hospital for a facial reconstructive surgery so he could take her husband’s place, India Today reported.

She also informed Reddy’s family that unidentified people came to their house and threw petrol on her husband. Rajesh, who was pretending to be Reddy, was shifted to Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad. Reddy’s brother lodged a complaint with the police about the attack on his ‘brother.’

"On November 28, Sudhakar’s brother lodged a complaint, alleging that unidentified persons attacked his brother and burnt him with petrol. We registered a case and began investigation,” Lakshmi Narayana said.

The case was registered with the Nagarkurnool police under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code. When the burns on Rajesh’s face started healing, the family became suspicious. They then asked the man to identify the members of the family.

Rajesh, meanwhile, pretended to be Reddy and only spoke with the family in writing, fearing they would recognize his voice. However, the family members’ suspicions were confirmed when he could not identify them.

“They repeatedly asked the injured person (Rajesh) in ICU (intensive care unit) about details of family members. He didn’t speak a word as they would recognize his voice and started writing on the palm. As he was unable to give details, family members came to a conclusion that he was not Sudhakar Reddy. The family went to police and lodged another complaint, stating some other person took the place of Sudhakar Reddy. They also expressed doubts over Swathi,” the police officer said.

Following this, the investigators took Rajesh’s fingerprints and found that it did not match with that of Reddy, Indian publication Asian Age reported. Upon interrogating, Swathi confessed and showed them the location where Reddy’s body was dumped. Police retrieved the decomposed body and handed it over to the family.

Swathi was arrested Sunday on charges of murder and causing disappearance of evidence of offence. The police said Rajesh would also be arrested after he was discharged from the hospital.