Mother, son host woman at tea shop. Hours later, she is found dead in a field

But first, police have a more pressing task at hand: Identifying the victim. Their search ends in Bhoompally village in the same district, located 100 km north of state capital Hyderabad.

The woman is identified as Athikam Vijaya, 45. “We could identify the body because the face was not burnt beyond recognition,” says Perumal.

As police interview residents of Bhoompally – a village of 3,000 where everyone seems to know everyone – in the hope of finding witnesses, they come across C Rajitha, a 38-year-old woman. Rajitha makes a living running a small tea shop along with her teenaged son near a cluster of small houses for the poor.

It is Rajitha who seems to have a clue on what may have led to Vijaya’s fate.

Police begin tracking the whereabouts of Vijaya’s family members. At the same time, they start going through footage from CCTV cameras installed in main entrances and busy public areas of the village. (Special Arrangement)

She tells the investigating personnel that her neighbour Vijaya had several property disputes in her marital home. “She was unbelievably calm when questioned at that time,” recalls Perumal.

Police begin tracking the whereabouts of Vijaya’s family members. At the same time, they start going through footage from CCTV cameras installed in main entrances and busy public areas of the village.

How did the case unravel?

The police investigators are lucky. These CCTVs have come up only in March, as part of a crime prevention drive by Telangana Police called Siddipet Suraksha Netra. Scanning through the footage, police stumble upon two faces they have only recently got familiar with – Rajitha and her son. “We found the duo on a bike with a seemingly heavy bag between them. They seemed to be going somewhere,” says Perumal.

Tracking their return, police spot another oddity. “While returning, they did not have the bag with them,” Perumal adds.

Inspecting the crime scene, police immediately become sure of one thing: The crime was committed somewhere else. (AI generated image)

Police go back to the footage of the bag and notice something eerie. The big bag Rajitha and her son were carrying on the bike has an uncanny resemblance to the bag they spotted on Vijaya’s body.

On August 18, the police finally knock at Rajitha’s door. But this time, she is not their star witness, but an accused in the murder case.

Domestic violence victim to murder accused

Rajitha and her husband Dubbaya had a tumultuous family life, police say. He used to be an alcoholic who drew pleasure out of beating up his wife. After putting up with the abuse for years, one night, some two years ago, Rajitha decided to hit back. She allegedly poured scalding hot water on Dubayya’s feet. The incident left him with 80% burns and a paralysis in the left leg. Despite the episode, Dubbaya continues to live in the house.

Neighbours say Rajitha dotes on her 15-year-old son and would look after him well despite her limited income. Of late, she had started to put special emphasis on his health, a neighbour recalls. “She had bought him dumbbells and protein powder to build muscle,” says Perumal.

But behind this concern for the teenager’s health, police says, is a twisted motive. “Rajitha knew she would need his strength to attack her potential victims,” Perumal adds.

She put him to the task around one year ago.

Their first target was Annapurna, a resident of the same village.

“They attacked her when she was on a morning walk, near an isolated spot, in June 2025 and robbed her of a five-tola gold mangalsutra. She survived the attack, but has not recovered from its impact,” says Siddipet Police Commissioner Perumal. Annapurna still gets nightmares and her neck, too, has not properly healed, he adds.

Annapurna, though, was lucky to survive. Vijaya was not as fortunate.

Using CCTVs, the police found out that like Annapurna, Vijaya, too, had gone for a walk when she was killed. “We found a 100-150 metre stretch in which she went missing during her walk. It is this very stretch where the shop of the accused is located, right outside the residential area,” Perumal points out.

While investigating the case, police had little clue that it would connect to a case from May they were still trying to crack.

First strike

During the probe, police also learnt that the mother-son duo had a role in a May 28 case, in which one Kunta Rekha from the village was reported missing by her kin. Like Vijaya, Rekha was also facing marital problems.

“Rekha had separated from her husband. She was chosen because her death would naturally have raised suspicion on her estranged family members,” the police investigators say.

After strangling and killing Rekha who had visited their tea stall that day, Rajitha and her son covered her body in a bag and took it on their TVS XL into the forest of Achamayyapalli, which surrounds the village, to dispose of it.

When the police take Rajitha inside the forest, to the spot where Rekha’s body was set on fire, all that remained were parts of the bag which had covered the corpse, some bones and teeth. “We have sent the mortal remains for forensic analysis,” says Perumal.

Unlike Rekha, disposing of Vijaya’s body was not easy. “When they tried to get rid of the body, it was raining heavily. The bag which carried the body had also gained weight, soaked in rainwater. They could not have driven into the forest to dispose of it. So, they chose an agricultural field, doused the body in petrol and set it ablaze. Because it was raining, the body stopped burning after a while,” Perumal explains.

The half-burnt body becomes a clincher in the case, helping police swiftly identify the victim. Among the CCTV footage, police say, they also have evidence of the mother and son buying petrol in canisters from a nearby petrol pump. “We examined hundreds of CCTVs to get digital evidence in the case,” Siddipet Police Commissioner Perumal says.

Crime thriller buff to ‘coldblooded’ criminal

Police say Rajitha was often seen glued to her cell phone, scrolling through social media pages of Telugu true crime serials. Villagers tell police that she would watch the Mohanlal-starrer Drishyam series of films over and over again. What they didn’t realise, though, was that she was obsessed with them not as a thriller buff but as a potential criminal, plotting when to strike — all for a few grams of gold and silver.

The police have seized 5.61 tolas of gold ornaments, 53 tolas of silver ornaments, Rs 1.03 lakh in cash, two mobile phones and the blue TVS XL allegedly used to transport the bodies. The total value of the seized items was estimated at around Rs 10 lakh.

Police say Rajitha and her son used their tea stall to observe people and gather information about their movements, assets and disputes. “The victims were chosen based on their family background,” says Perumal.

While investigating the case, police had little clue that it would connect to a case from May they were still trying to crack. (Express Photo)

Police say Rajitha had plotted four more murders. On Vijaya’s case, Siddipet Police Commissioner Perumal says, “It’s a case of coldblooded murder, with no remorse.”

Rajitha’s son has been sent to a juvenile correction facility in the district. Rajitha, booked for double murder and voluntarily causing grievous hurt, is in judicial custody.

To neighbours in Bhoompally village, Rajitha was known to be chatty while her son was seen as quiet and observant. The husband would keep to himself, confined inside their two-bedroom home, especially after the “accident”.

But as television cameras begin crowding outside their home after Rajitha’s arrest, he starts speaking. “She tried to kill me too. I escaped narrowly,” he tells the media persons.

The police, however, are in no hurry to take him for his word. “We have not ruled out his involvement in the murders. Investigation is on,’’ says Perumal, “he is still a suspect”.