Three women done to death by boyfriends

Hyderabad: As per information shared by the police ironically on National Boyfriend Day observed on October 3 since 2014, OYO rooms, inexpensive space provided by Indian multinational hospitality chain, have turned out to be death traps for women in the Tri-Commissionerates of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Malkajgiri.

In the last 10 days, at least three women, including a medicine PG student, were found murdered under suspicious circumstances. Noticeably, in all three incidents, apparently boyfriends turned villains by killing the women. Considering the series of murders that took place in OYO rooms, police officials have directed OYO hotel organisers to take measures to prevent such incidents.

Police officials said that 21-year-old Sharon Nikhitha, a native of Assam, had checked in along with a person known to her, Srinivas Ravi Teja, native of Visakhapatnam on September 21. Later, Srinivas Ravi Teja murdered her and ran away from the place.

The Madhapur Police arrested the accused for killing the woman.

"OYO hotels offer the premises at lower prices and miscreants choose such rooms for committing offences. There are certain guidelines for operating hospitality premises in the city. The hotel management must record details of customers, including mobile number, date, time, and addresses. The hotel management also asks for the ID from the customers. CCTVs must be installed at the entrance of hotel premises and the data has to be stored for three months at least. For instance, the Madhapur case was detected through CCTV footage in which the boyfriend’s identities were recorded," said Madhapur Inspector K V Subba Rao.

Similarly, On September 29, one B Shirisha, a woman from Vikarabad, was found dead under suspicious circumstances in a pool of blood at an OYO hotel in the SR Nagar Police Station limits. She had checked into the hotel with Srinivas, known to her.

However, the fact that the two individuals rented a room at an OYO hotel using fake Aadhaar cards—bearing the names 'Ganesh' and 'Durga'—raises serious concerns regarding security in Hyderabad. During the probe, the police found that Srinivas killed the woman and ran away from the place.

In the third incident, a 27 year-old medicine PG student, Komati Srujana from Hanumakonda, was found dead under suspicious circumstances in an OYO hotel room in Miyapur. In the incident, the accused killed her a few days ago and the police found a decomposed body on October 2. The Miyapur Police said that they collected CCTV footage and details from the hotel register to identify the accused in the case.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mouli Mareedu

Mouli Mareedu