Friendship with another man; teacher arrested for killing engineering student and staging death as suicide

HYDERABAD: A college lecturer has been arrested for killing an engineering student over her friendship with another man and staging the death as a suicide. The victim has been identified as 20-year-old Tandra Akshitharani, a former student of Singareni Collieries Polytechnic in Telangana. Police arrested Naveen Kumar (38), a lecturer at the same institution. Police found that he forced the student to consume pesticide and then tried to make it appear that she had died by suicide.

Tandra became acquainted with Naveen Kumar while pursuing a diploma at Singareni College. The two later grew apart after she joined a mining engineering college in Hyderabad for her degree. During her apprenticeship at the Singareni mines, Tandra became friends with a young man named Ravi Kumar. Peddapalli Deputy Commissioner B. Ram Reddy said Naveen allegedly planned to kill Tandra after learning about her friendship with Ravi Kumar.

On September 12, Naveen forced Tandra into his car while she was returning home. He then allegedly made her write a suicide note claiming that Ravi Kumar had sexually assaulted her. He subsequently forced her to consume pesticide. Police said Naveen later called Tandra's father and convinced him that she had died by suicide.

Tandra was admitted to a hospital on September 12 but died the following day. Initially, police also suspected that she had died by suicide. However, an investigation focusing on CCTV footage and phone records established that it was a murder, police said. Ravi Kumar was also arrested over the allegation that he had sexually assaulted Tandra.