Hyderabad, Mar 31: A 29-year-old driver has been apprehended for allegedly killing two women in separate incidents in Hyderabad to steal their gold jewellery and repay debts incurred through online gambling, police said.
The accused, identified as K Vasu, was arrested by the Jubilee Hills police after investigators linked two missing-person cases with the recovery of unidentified bodies from the outskirts of the city.
According to police officials, Vasu, a native of Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district, was working as a driver for a doctor and had accumulated debts of over Rs 1 lakh due to online betting.
“He was under financial stress and was looking for opportunities to clear his debts. He targeted women wearing gold jewellery and offered them lifts before committing the crime,” an official said.
Police said the first incident took place on March 11 when the accused allegedly targeted a 70-year-old woman from Film Nagar.
He reportedly offered to drop her home and drove towards an isolated area near Gandipet, where he strangled her with a rope and took away her jewellery.
However, most of the ornaments were later found to be imitation, and he managed to get only about Rs 18,000 by pledging a part of it, police said. The victim’s family had filed a missing complaint days later.
In a second incident on March 14, Vasu allegedly targeted a 56-year-old domestic worker living near his employer’s residence.
He offered her a lift and later strangled her inside the vehicle before dumping the body in a secluded area near Mokila, officials said.
He is suspected to have obtained around Rs 22,000 by pledging the stolen jewellery in this case.
Police cracked the case using CCTV footage and analysis of mobile phone data.
With coordination between multiple police units, the missing-person cases were linked to bodies recovered from different locations in the city’s outskirts.
One of the bodies had already been buried after preservation of DNA samples, while the other remains in a morgue, officials said.
Police said the accused has confessed to the crimes during interrogation, and further investigation is underway. Formal procedures related to his arrest are being completed.
