CHENNAI: Mystery surrounds the death of a 26-year-old woman from Andhra Pradesh, who was found with her throat slashed inside the bedroom of her apartment at J J Nagar, near Mogappair, on Monday. While police are yet to establish the antecedents of the victim and the motive behind the murder, they firmly ruled out robbery and rape. It was around 11.50 am that the body of Bhavana Reddy, a native of Andhra Pradesh, was found by her friend Sabitha Begum (37) in the victim’s secluded ground floor flat in Lakshmi Apartments, Investigating Officer Surendran told Express. “We were informed at 12.10 pm,” he added.On arriving at the scene of crime, the police and forensic teams found all the doors of the two-bedroom flat open and the victim lying on the floor near the cot with her face towards the ceiling. On the left side of her throat was a deep gash caused by a kitchen knife, which the killer had abandoned near the body. “The victim was wearing a ‘churidhar’ and there was no sign of dishevelment and all the gold ornaments on her body too were intact,” the police officer said.Sabitha told the police that she phoned her friend the previous night and again on Monday morning, but did not get any response. Suspecting something amiss, she visited the flat.After sending the body for autopsy, cops studied the scene of crime and found two dinner plates and teacups, indicating that Bhavana had a visitor the night before. While the forensic experts looked for fingerprints, sniffer dog Rani followed a trail for about 2 km and stopped on Padi Kuppam Salai.Police also seized a diary belonging to the victim from the house. With Bhavana Reddy turning out to be a mystery woman, they hoped it would throw more light on her background. “We have found some phone numbers in the diary and one or two pages, which are of personal nature,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Central Zone) S Sankar said.Grilling Sabitha Begum, who appeared to be the only known link to the victim, police learnt that Bhavana first came to the city about two years ago to undergo treatment for tuberculosis at a private hospital in Mogappair, At the time, she came into contact with Sabitha Begum, a beautician who stayed with her two children at Villivakkam, while her husband worked abroad, Inspector Surendran said. On completion of her medical treatment, Bhavana went back to Andhra and returned a year ago. She contacted Sabitha again and expressed a wish to work as beautician. Sabitha helped her in finding the flat in J J Nagar and the victim signed an 11-month agreement with the house owner. “She worked as a freelance beautician and also continued to undergo treatment for TB in the same hospital. We found the medical records,” the inspector said.Other occupants of the building could not say much about their murdered neighbour. “We saw her coming and going and did not have much contact with her,” one of them said. JCP Sankar said the investigating team was working on the theory that the killer was somebody known to the victim. “He has been seeing her for sometime and also had dinner with her on Sunday night,” he added.
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