Woman ‘murdered’ by lover in Elur; body exhumed

Police on Friday arrested a person accused of murdering his lover and burying her body in Eluru on April 18.

The victim, M. Vishali (36), a native of Showripuram, left home on April 18 and did not return. Eluru Three Town Police registered a missing case based on a complaint. Based on the confession of the accused, the body was exhumed and the earlier registered missing case was changed to a murder case, police said.

Investigation revealed that the accused, identified as Darshan Francis Showry, a milk vendor, allegedly had extramarital affairs with Vishali. “The accused allegedly killed the woman and tried to tamper with the evidence,” Eluru District Superintendent of Police K. Pratap Shiva Kishore said.

Darshan Francis suspected that the woman was talking to others on the phone and allegedly planned to kill her.

On April 18, he took Vishali to an isolated spot near the Polavaram canal in Pallerlamudi village and allegedly strangled her to death with a chunni. He allegedly smashed her body with a boulder and dumped the body in the bushes, Deputy Superintendent of Police D. Sravan Kumar said on Friday.

On April 23, the accused visited the crime scene, buried the body and burned her clothes. He fled the scene with the victim’s cell phone.

A team led by Three Town Circle Inspector V. Koteswara Rao tracked the mobile phone of the accused and found that he was in touch with the woman till she left home on April 18.

The accused was sending messages from Vishali’s mobile phone to her husband to mislead the police, damaged the phone and threw it in the water body, the DSP said.

Published – 30 May 2026 0:50 AM IST