 "Aishwarya convinced Tejeswar to marry her, claiming to be in love with him. But within a month of their wedding, he went missing. Image: X/@thematrixloop")
Just weeks after the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case came to light, a similar incident has surfaced in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district.
In this case, a man was found dead nearly a month after his wedding. His family has accused his wife of having an extramarital affair.
The victim, Tejeswar, had been missing since June 18. According to police, his body was later recovered from a canal in Kurnool.
For the unversed, the murder of Indore-based businessman Raja Raghuvanshi led to outrage across the country. His wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi, was named the main suspect after the couple went ‘missing’ during their honeymoon in Meghalaya’s Cherrapunji. Investigators claim that Sonam and her alleged partner, Raj Kushwaha, plotted the murder.
ALSO READ | 2 machetes, 3 blows: The shocking new revelations in Raja Raghuvanshi murder case
Coming back to the Andhra case, what happened here? Was the man killed over a love affair? Was the wife really involved in an extramarital relationship?
Find out below:
What happened?
Tejeswar, a 26-year-old land surveyor and dancer from Telangana, was killed just a month after his wedding.
He had gone missing on June 18, and his family alleged that his wife, her mother, and a bank employee from Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool district were involved in his murder.
Aishwarya, 23, had reportedly convinced Tejeswar to marry her, claiming to be in love with him. But within a month of their wedding, he went missing.
After complaints from Tejeswar’s family, police took Aishwarya and her mother, Sujatha, in for questioning. Investigations revealed that Aishwarya, who was allegedly having an affair with a married bank manager, had plotted to kill her husband.
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View AllShe, along with the manager, had hired three men for the murder, NDTV reported. Sujatha worked at the same non-banking finance company as her daughter.
The bank manager, Tirumal Rao, who is based in Kurnool, has been identified as Aishwarya’s lover. Police said he paid Rs 2 lakh in advance to three men who had earlier approached him for a loan to carry out the killing, Jogulamba Gadwal district SP T Srinivas Rao told the media outlet.
Eight people have been arrested so far, including Aishwarya, Rao, and Sujatha. Among the others is Rao’s father, a retired police head constable, who allegedly tried to help his son evade arrest.
Tejeswar’s family told police that he had become suspicious after noticing Aishwarya spending long hours on the phone and becoming distant. Call records later revealed that she and the bank employee had spoken over 2,000 times even after the wedding, India Today reported.
The report also said the motive behind the murder was linked to Tejeswar’s property and his disapproval of his wife’s continued affair.
What we know about the plan behind Tejeswar’s murder
Rao thought no one would ever find the body since they would declare him missing, but he still kept an escape plan in place.
He had taken a loan of Rs 20 lakh and booked tickets to Ladakh for himself and Aishwarya, according to police.
According to the police, Rao had once thought about killing his wife, whom he had married eight years earlier, because they did not have any children. It is also alleged that he had an affair with Aishwarya’s mother, Sujatha, who worked as a cleaner at his bank, NDTV reported.
When Sujatha was away, Aishwarya took over her mother’s job at the bank. During this time, Aishwarya and Rao grew close and started a relationship.
Notably, Sujatha did not approve of this relationship and wanted Aishwarya to marry Tejeswar instead. However, Aishwarya was not willing.
The wedding was first planned for February, but it was postponed when Aishwarya suddenly went missing, according to the report. After some time, she came back, said she loved Tejeswar, and they got married.
Between February and June, Aishwarya and Rao spoke on the phone around 2,000 times. Even during her wedding, Aishwarya was often on the phone. Her in-laws noticed this and questioned her, but she said she was speaking to her mother.
On June 18, Tejeswar’s family in Gadwal reported him missing. By that time, he had already been killed.
Police say he was called for a land survey assignment and then murdered with help from Rao’s close aides. Investigators have found a car believed to be used in the crime and are questioning both the driver and the vehicle’s owner.
“He was on the seat beside the driver when they slit his throat and subsequently stabbed him in the stomach,” SP Srinivas told NDTV.
After Tejeswar disappeared, his family suspected that Aishwarya and Rao were involved. At that time, Aishwarya was still living with her in-laws.
Police said the plan was for her to return to Kurnool before escaping with Rao to Ladakh.
Raja Raghuvanshi murder case
This incident comes after the killing of Raja Raghuvanshi, in which his wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi, was named the main suspect.
Raja went missing on May 23 during a honeymoon trip to Cherrapunji. His body was discovered on June 2 near the Wei Sawdong Falls in East Khasi Hills.
His murder was allegedly planned by Sonam and her alleged lover, Raj Kushwaha, and carried out by three hired hitmen. All of them are in police custody.