Date:06/07/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/07/06/stories/2009070650150100.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Engineering student found murdered

Staff Reporter

GUNTUR: The body of a 20-year-old girl, which was found lying in a pool of water at Krishnayapalem village in Mangalagiri mandal on Saturday, was identified as that of J. Hepsiba, a third year student of Nova Engineering College, Ibrahimpatnam mandal, in Krishna district.

The police on Sunday took into custody an auto driver hailing from Ponnekallu village near Tadikonda mandal, Linga Reddy. The accused was nabbed based on log records of the cell phone belonging Hepsiba and is now being interrogated by the Vijayawada police.

A police team from Vijayawada Two Town Police Station and her uncles, Solomon and Bapuji, identified the body, which was lying stacked up in a sack cloth and dumped in a pool of water adjacent to the Amaravathi Road.

A day after Hepsiba was found missing, her father Elia filed a complaint at the Two Town Police Station in Vijayawada on Saturday.

Hepsiba who was residing close to the Railway Station in Vijayawada, was befriended by Linga Reddy, who used to drop her at Pandit Nehru Bus Station, from where she used to take a bus to the college. On Friday she left the college at about 2 p.m. presumably with the auto driver. On Saturday, her body was found. Based on the calls made from her mobile, police suspect that the auto driver could have smothered her to death. A police team which went to Ponnekallu on Sunday morning arrested the auto driver.