A single word uttered by school principal Kallu Rupa Reddy shortly before her phone went silent became the unlikely breakthrough in the murder investigation that led Nalgonda police to suspect two of her students.

Ms. Rupa Reddy, principal of Nagarjuna Grammar Concept School in Kondamallepally, was murdered at her house on August 11. She was found with 27 stab wounds at her house in JB Colony, the mandal headquarters. She lived with her husband, Rajender Reddy, who was in Hyderabad on work when the incident occurred.

District SP Sharath Chandra Pawar constituted five special teams, comprising around 40 police personnel, and ordered a scientific investigation into the case. Investigators examined forensic evidence, fingerprints, dog squad reports, CCTV footage, technical data and the movements of suspects. More than 80 people were questioned and footage from around 70 CCTV cameras covering an area within a 30-km radius was examined.

The one-word clue

Shortly before her murder, Ms. Rupa Reddy was speaking to her aunt over the phone and uttered the word ‘Babu’ before the phone was switched off. Police later learnt that she habitually addressed students at her school as ‘Babu’, prompting investigators to turn their attention to students.

The school had remained closed for six days following the principal’s death. Once it reopened, police questioned students individually and kept a watch on some who had remained absent for two days. Five students who had recently displayed signs of a sudden change in lifestyle came under particular scrutiny.

The money trail

Investigators subsequently matched CCTV footage from the crime scene with the suspected students and gathered information about their movements. On Wednesday, police intercepted two 16-year-old students of Class X near Doniyala Crossroad at around 11.30 a.m. as they were travelling by bike from Pendlipakala Crossroad towards Mallepalli.

“A search led to ₹1.54 lakh being found concealed in their undergarments. Three of the ₹500 notes had bloodstains. When questioned about the money, the two allegedly confessed to killing Ms. Rupa Reddy and stealing cash from her house,” said the SP.

The officer explained that the two juveniles were students of the same school and shared a hostel room.

They allegedly browsed social media and YouTube for ways to make quick money. They purchased an iPhone worth ₹60,000 with the stolen money and the rest was spent on miscellaneous things.

The principal had caught them with mobiles and some unaccounted cash in the hostel the previous month and reprimanded them in the presence of their parents, police said. The two allegedly held a grudge against her and later decided to target her, believing she kept a large amount of cash at home.

Murder plan

Police said the duo conducted reconnaissance around the house for a week and researched ways to carry out the murder without leaving a digital trail. On Tuesday, one of them allegedly went home from school to collect a red hoodie and trousers. The two then purchased a knife and gloves in Kondamallepally.

On the day of the murder, they allegedly reached a water tank near Ms. Rupa Reddy’s house, with one keeping watch while the other entered through the open kitchen door. Police said the two then attacked the principal with knives and took ₹2.5 lakh from the bedroom before escaping by jumping over the rear wall and fleeing through a deserted area.

The accused allegedly discarded the knife, gloves, mask and a mobile phone in bushes, changed their clothes a short distance away and threw the red hoodie into a drainage canal.

Police recovered ₹1.54 lakh, the deceased’s iPhone, the knife allegedly used in the murder, gloves, masks and two mobile phones from the juveniles.