Hyderabad horror: Taxi driver kills pregnant wife, chops body into parts, throws in river

IN another shivery polish off by a married person, a 27-year-old adult male allegedly killed his pregnant married woman, 21, and cut her body into pieces at their home in Telangana's Medipally, part of the Hyderabad metropolitan region.The victim, Swathi alias Jyothi, lived with husband Mahender Reddy in Boduppal, Medipally. The murder took place around 4.30 pm on Saturday, PTI reported.The accused, who works as a driver with a ride-hailing company, is alleged to have strangulated her after frequent quarrels over family disputes.Also read | 9 yrs of torture, an age-old evil, and remorseless husbandHe tried to then conceal the evidence by chopped the body into pieces using a hexa blade. He disposed of the head, hands, and legs by throwing them into the Musi river at Prathapsingaram, and retained the body's trunk in his room, police told told reporters.Some of the body parts were found in the house, while a search was on for the other parts in the river.Also read | 'Hit her in head, threw acid': Noida woman's sister shares ordeal over dowry demandSome reports said the accused on Saturday night confessed to a relative, who informed the police. Police, however, told PTI that he called his sister informing that his wife went missing, but she grew suspicious and informed the relative who took him to a police station.The dismembered body was sent for post-mortem examination. A DNA test will be conducted to ascertain the case details.Love affair, marriage, and suspicionThe couple, natives of Vikarabad district, were neighbours and had a love affair before their marriage was arranged in January 2024.They moved to Hyderabad thereafter and resided in a rented house at Boduppal. After only about one month, frequent quarrels arose between them, PTI reported.In April 2024, the woman lodged a complaint with police in Vikarabad, accusing her husband of domestic violence and a case was registered. Subsequently, village elders held conciliatory talks, and a compromise was arrived at.The woman also worked for three months at a call centre in the city. But the husband doubted her character and stopped her from continuing with her job, the report added.In March 2025, she conceived.On August 22, she told him she would go home to Vikarabad for a check-up and then stay at her parents’ house. A fight ensued and he decided to kill her, police said.Meanwhile, neighbours reportedly went inside the house at around 3 am on Sunday after hearing noises only to find the body of Swathi cut into pieces and kept in a bag. "We came to know that he chopped her body. The police were seen taking out some packets," locals said.The express motive behind the murder has not been determined yet and further investigations are underway.Not the first case this monthThis incident two weeks after a similar incident made headlines in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut. In that case, the accused Ravi Shankar stabbed his pregnant wife Sapna to death following marital discord.He slit her throat and stabbed her multiple times, even after she lost her life, said local police.Relatives tried to intervene, but the door was reportedly locked from the inside. Police reached the spot, broke the lock open and found Ravi Shankar sitting next to his wife's body, with blood splattered across the room. Sapna's brother-in-law said she was seven months pregnant.