Locals living close to the Musi river bank in Hyderabad's Attapur area stumbled upon the dead bodies of two unidentified women on Tuesday noon. The bodies were found under the jurisdiction of the Langar Houz police station and were later identified as 45-year-old Sumitha and 50-year-old Yadamma; two sisters who were residents of Balapur and daily wage labourers.
The police said that they were alerted at around 3:30 pm by locals after the two bodies were spotted lying on the banks of the river near PVNR Expressway pillar number 119 in Attapur. The police suspect that the two women were killed elsewhere and their bodies were dumped at the spot. A case under Section 302 (Murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against the unidentified assailant and police are reviewing CCTV footage of routes leading up to the spot where the bodies had been found.
In the aftermath of the incident, several local media outlets claimed that the murder of the two women was related to black magic and claimed that there were some objects found close to the bodies which were used to carry out black magic rituals.
However, speaking to TNM, CH Srinivas, Inspector, Langar Houz police station refuted these media reports, "The reports about black magic being the motive behind the murder is wrong. We have found nothing to suggest that it is related to black magic. The cause of death of the two women is yet to be confirmed as the post mortem reports are not out yet. We did find head injuries on the two women."
"We sent out identification pictures of the two women soon after we found their bodies. On Wednesday, the families of the two women approached us and we confirmed their identities. We are still investigating the case," Srinivas added.
The police are presently awaiting the autopsy report from the state-run Osmania General Hospital (OGH), following which they said that further details would be revealed.