In a shocking murder case from Telangana, police have found that Tejeswar, a young man who had been married for just one month, was killed by his wife, Aishwarya, and her lover, Tirumal Rao. The police said the duo got the idea from a similar murder case involving Raja Raghuvanshi and his wife Sonam in Meghalaya.

According to Gadwal police chief T. Srinivasa Rao, during questioning Aishwarya and Tirumal Rao said they had first planned to kill Tejeswar in the same way Raja was killed. The plan was simple: Aishwarya would ask Tejeswar to take her on a bike ride. While on the way, the killers would attack and murder him. Aishwarya would then escape with her lover, making it look like a kidnapping and confusing the police.

This was exactly how Raja Raghuvanshi’s murder had happened—his body was found, and his wife was missing for several days. Later, she was found to be part of the murder plan. In Tejeswar’s case, Aishwarya and her lover discussed this idea but later changed their plan.

The police also found that Aishwarya, just 23 years old, placed a GPS tracker on her husband’s bike to track his movements. She also hired their neighbour Mohan to keep an eye on him and report back.

Eight people have been arrested so far, including Aishwarya, her lover Tirumal Rao, her mother Sujatha (who knew about the plan), Tirumal’s father (a former head constable), three hired killers—Nagesh, Parshuram, and Rajesh—and neighbour Mohan.

Tejeswar’s body was found in a field in Panyam, Nandyal district of Andhra Pradesh, on June 21. His family in Gadwal, Telangana, had reported him missing three days earlier. His body was identified by a tattoo on his arm that said “Amma” in Telugu.

The family had already suspected Aishwarya. “We warned Tejeswar not to marry Aishwarya, as she was said to be in a relationship with a bank manager, but she convinced Tejeswar that she was in love with him,” said Tejavardhan, Tejeswar’s elder brother. “When he went missing, I was observing her; she did not shed a tear, no sadness, so I told the police my suspicions, and they investigated,” he told NDTV.

A mother-daughter love triangle and a murder plot

Investigators found that Aishwarya’s mother, Sujatha, worked as a sweeper at a finance company where she met officer Tirumal Rao. They started a relationship in 2016. Later, when Sujatha took leave, her daughter Aishwarya replaced her at work and also began a relationship with Rao.

Even though Rao got married in 2019, he kept the affair with Aishwarya. Police said he also had plans to kill his wife. When Sujatha found out her daughter was in love with the same man, she tried to convince her to marry Tejeswar instead. Aishwarya first refused but later agreed. A wedding date was fixed. However, Aishwarya disappeared just before the marriage.

When she returned, she told Tejeswar that she had left because her mother didn’t have money to give as dowry. She insisted that she wanted to marry him. Despite warnings from his family, Tejeswar went ahead with the wedding on May 18.

Tejeswar’s family members told NDTV that Aishwarya was constantly talking to Rao, even during her wedding. Phone records show they spoke over 2,000 times between February and June. “They would be on video calls for hours,” said police chief Srinivasa Rao. Even on her wedding day, they were on a video call.

The police said Tirumal hired three men to kill Tejeswar. These men had come to him for loans, and he promised to help them if they completed the murder. On the pretext of land survey work, they took Tejeswar in a car. While he was sitting in the front, they hit him on the head, slit his throat, and stabbed him in the stomach.

“The killers pulled his body to the back seat. Their clothes were full of blood, so Tirumal Rao bought them new clothes and they threw away the old ones,” said the police.

Police said the killers showed Tejeswar’s body to Tirumal Rao over a video call and dumped it in a canal. “They had planned to bury it in a plot in Kurnool, but there were people nearby. So, they dumped the body in a canal. There wasn’t enough water to carry the body away. We tracked Tejeswar’s phone signals and found the body. It was decomposed, but we identified it by the tattoo,” said Rao.

Failed escape plan and final arrests

After the murder, Aishwarya stayed with her in-laws to avoid suspicion. Meanwhile, Rao had taken a Rs 20-lakh loan and booked tickets for him and Aishwarya to escape to Ladakh. They had also considered fleeing to the Andaman Islands.

However, the plan failed. When Tejeswar went missing, his family informed the police and shared their doubts about Aishwarya and her lover. The police began an investigation.

A few days later, the police in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, informed their Telangana counterparts that a body had been found in a field. The Telangana police rushed to the spot and confirmed it was Tejeswar.

Rao’s father, a retired policeman, also tried to protect his son but failed. The police arrested all the accused after uncovering the full conspiracy. NDTV reported all these details as shared by the police during their press briefings.

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