Woman smothered to death with rice bag

HYDERABAD: In a gruesome murder, a 45-year-old woman was smothered to death by a killer by placing a 50-kilo rice sack on her face and sitting on it. The murder took place in Mangalhat police limits on Saturday.The deceased,  Swaroopa, was an employee of the Postgraduate College. She had two daughters _ Archana and Saujanya _ both of whom were married a few years ago. But ever since Archana's relationship with her husband got strained, she has been staying at her mother's residence. Mangalhat police inspector G Sridhar said Archana, who works at an information technology firm, left her residence for work at around 9.30 am on Saturday.  Soon, some persons entered the house. Sawroopa then went up to the store room on the second floor along with the visitors. The accused placed a 50-kg rice bag on her face and sat on it. The woman died of exhaustion. Police suspect that the murder was committed by someone known to Swaroopa but are not sure for what purpose she took him to the store room. During the investigation, police found that a two-tola gold chain went missing from the victim's person. Mangalhat police registered a case under Section 302 (murder) of IPC.