On June 3, 2023, Ayyagari Sai Krishna, a 36-year-old temple priest and MBA graduate in Hyderabad, picked up his 29-year-old maternal niece and romantic partner, Krogganti Apsara, under the guise of going for a drive. Apsara, whose husband had previously died by suicide, had been pressuring Krishna to leave his wife and marry her, threatening to expose their affair. During an argument in an isolated area of Shamshabad, Krishna struck Apsara with a large stone, killing her. He transported her body to a manhole behind his temple in Saroornagar, dumped her inside, and hired a worker to seal it with cement. On June 5, 2023, Krishna filed a false missing person report at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Police Station. Police investigated CCTV footage along the 21-kilometer route and discovered discrepancies in Krishna's claim about dropping her off. Upon rigorous interrogation, Krishna confessed and led police to the sealed manhole, where Apsara's body was recovered. On March 27, 2025, a sessions court in Hyderabad sentenced Krishna to life imprisonment.
Country: India
State/Province: Telangana, India
City/Region: Hyderabad
Incident Type: Murder
Relationship Status: Extramarital relationship
Relationship Duration: A few years
Incident Date: June 3, 2023
Relationship Origins:
Relationship Stages:
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Red Flags:
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How the relationship or connection began.
A few years
Important relationship phases recorded for this case.
Reported red flags or early concern points.
Contributing factors and possible motives from the available sources.
2023-06-03
Recorded relationship or case outcome.
English labels are shown first. Original-language titles are preserved for source verification.
Infidelity
The case follows an extramarital affair pattern involving family members where escalation occurs when one partner demands formalization or threatens exposure. The offender, fearing social degradation and loss of his primary family structure, pre-planned and executed the homicide, followed by elaborate post-offense concealment and active misdirection of law enforcement.
The investigation relied on digital and physical surveillance reconciliation. The primary suspect was the initial complainant who claimed to be the last person to see the victim alive. Police verified his narrative against CCTV coverage along the reported 21-kilometer drive route. Discrepancies in the camera footage for the final 3-kilometer stretch undermined his claim, leading to targeted interrogation, confession, and recovery of the victim's body from a cement-sealed manhole behind the temple. A Hyderabad sessions court sentenced Ayyagari Sai Krishna to life imprisonment on March 27, 2025.
Initially, the suspect attempted to position himself as a concerned family member filing a missing person report, misdirecting investigators with a false drop-off location in Shamshabad. Unclear route movements were resolved only after police cross-referenced the reported drive path against camera networks.
Krishna lured Apsara into his vehicle on June 3, 2023, under the pretext of resolving their ongoing conflict. At an isolated spot in Shamshabad, following an argument where Apsara threatened to disclose the affair to Krishna's wife, Krishna struck her with a heavy stone. He placed her body in his vehicle, drove to his temple in Saroornagar, dumped her into an accessible manhole, and subsequently hired workers to seal it with cement. He then visited the victim's mother and accompanied her to file a missing person report at the police station on June 5, 2023.
Extramarital conflicts carrying threats of exposure present high lethality risks when the offender possesses strong external social status or reputation concerns. Premeditation, combined with familiarity with hidden disposal sites (such as drainage manholes behind a workplace), significantly increases the danger to the victim.
CCTV timeline verification along reported transport routes serves as a vital investigative check when evaluating statements from the last known contact. Perpetrators may proactively file missing person reports to establish alibis and direct law enforcement away from crime scenes.
The primary early signal was Apsara's escalating demand for Krishna to leave his family and her threat to expose the affair directly to his wife.
The critical clue was the absence of Krishna's vehicle on CCTV footage in the specific 2-to-3-kilometer zone where he claimed to have dropped Apsara off.
Key evidence included CCTV footage contradicting the suspect's timeline, the suspect's inconsistent statements under detailed questioning, and the physical recovery of the victim's body from the cement-sealed manhole behind the suspect's temple.
The victim's mother confirmed to Krishna and police that Apsara had not returned home on the night of June 3, 2023, and that her mobile phone remained switched off.
Follow-up interrogation transformed Krishna from a reporting witness into the primary suspect after video evidence invalidated his initial statement regarding the victim's drop-off point.
The report does not indicate whether any secondary accomplices assisted in the initial concealment or if the laborer hired to apply cement was aware of the contents inside the manhole.