A case initially believed to be a suicide has taken a dramatic turn in Telangana, with police alleging that a 20-year-old engineering student was forced to consume pesticide and that a suicide narrative was created to mislead her family.
The victim, identified as Thandra Akshitarani, was taken to hospital after consuming pesticide and died during treatment. Police initially registered a case of suicide after a note was recovered.
However, further investigation reportedly revealed a different sequence of events.
Akshitarani had earlier studied for a diploma, during which she came into contact with Naveen Kumar, an outsourced lecturer at Singareni Collieries Polytechnic in Naspur.
Their relationship allegedly deteriorated after Akshitarani moved to Hyderabad to pursue a degree in mining engineering and later became close to Ravi Kumar during an apprenticeship at a Singareni mine.
According to police, Naveen could not accept Akshitarani distancing herself from him and allegedly developed resentment towards both her and Ravi Kumar.
On September 12, Naveen allegedly intercepted Akshitarani near the FCI crossroads while she was returning home. Police claim he took her in his car, forced her to write a note blaming Ravi Kumar for alleged sexual assault, and then made her consume pesticide.
Investigators further alleged that Naveen delayed taking her for medical treatment and later used her phone to contact her father in an attempt to make the incident appear to be a suicide.
Akshitarani was admitted to the Godavarikhani government hospital on September 12 and died the following day.
Police said CCTV footage, call records, recorded conversations and other technical evidence helped them reconstruct the events and identify Naveen as the main accused.
Naveen Kumar, 38, and Ravi Kumar, 35, a Singareni overman, were arrested on September 20. Police also seized a car and mobile phones as part of the investigation.
Meanwhile, a separate investigation is continuing into Akshitarani’s allegations of a forced physical relationship involving Ravi Kumar.
Ravi Kumar’s wife has disputed those allegations, claiming that he was wrongly implicated and that an internal Singareni inquiry had earlier cleared him.
The allegations remain subject to investigation and judicial proceedings.
