Representational image.
A 68-year-old French national living in Hyderabad was murdered by her adopted daughter and the latter's live-in partner, the police said on Saturday.
Marie Christine, who went missing two days ago, was found murdered near Himayat Sagar on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
The body was recovered on Saturday morning and by the evening, the Cyberabad police announced that they have cracked the case with the arrest of three accused persons.
Roma, 24, the adopted daughter of the deceased, her live-in partner Vikram Sriramula, 25, and his friend Rahul Gowtham, 24, have been arrested in connection with the case.
N. Prakash Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Shamshabad Zone, Cyberabad, told reporters that the accused murdered Christine for her property.
The Rajendranagar police station on the night of September 9 received a complaint from Christine's son-in-law Prashanth that she was missing since the morning. The police registered a case and took up the investigation.
Since the family members suspected Roma, the police interrogated her following which she confessed to the crime.
The investigation revealed that Vikram and Rahul strangulated Christine to death with a rope at her residence in Dargah Khalij Khan in Gandipet mandal on September 8. They later shifted the body in a car and dumped it in the bushes near the Himayat Sagar reservoir.
Christine, who had migrated to India about 30 years ago and settled here, had established the Marica high schools at Toli Chowki and at Dargha Khalij Khan village to serve the poor and orphans.
She had two biological daughters -- Marie Solange who is married to Prashanth and stays at Sun City in Hyderabad, and Rebecca who is residing in Puduchery.
The deceased had also adopted Roma soon after her birth, and another girl by the name of Priyanka. All three were staying at Dargah Khalij Khan.
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To perform the marriage of Roma, she had created a profile in a Christian matrimony website. Roma, however, developed acquaintance with Vikram, a native of Anantapur district in Andhra Pradesh through a matrimony website in May this year and since then they have been residing in a rented house at Laxmi Nivas Apartment in Kondapur.
Christine didn't approve the relationship and had refused to perform their marriage.
Roma and Vikram conspired with the latter's friend Rahul, a native of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh, to eliminate Christine and extract her property.
On the evening of September 8, Roma came to the deceased's house and after some discussions, Christine dropped her in her car at the Marica High School in Toli Chowki and returned home.
When Christine came back, Vikram and Rahul were waiting near the bathroom. When the deceased came out to go to the bathroom, they strangulated her to death with a rope.
After dumping the body near Himayat Sagar, the two accused came to the deceased's residence, parked the car and took away her car keys, laptop and iphone. The next day, they transferred Rs 2 lakh to the account of Roma while she tried to mislead her sisters that she did not know about deceased's whereabouts.
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