A 26-year-old woman was found dead under suspicious circumstances in a hotel room in Hyderabad’s Langar Houz area in the early hours of Friday, hours after she checked in with her 34-year-old lover, police said.
According to Langar Hauz Inspector Syed Munawar Ali, preliminary investigation indicates that the woman died by suicide by hanging while she was on a video call with a friend at around 12.24 am.
The officer said: “She was alone in the hotel room, as her lover had gone out a few minutes before her death. The exact cause of the woman’s death has not yet been confirmed.”
The woman, a resident of Bolarum, entered the hotel with her lover in the early hours of Thursday, police said. She worked as a dancer in a bar in Kukatpally. She had been married for about eight years, had a seven-year-old son, and was living separately from her husband.
According to the police, she had been in a relationship with the man for the past six months after meeting him at a bar. The lover, a resident of Golconda, is also married and has three children.
The couple ordered biryani for dinner at around 11.56 pm on Thursday, police said, citing hotel records. The friend then left the hotel to attend to personal business, leaving the woman alone in the room.
Shortly after midnight, the woman made a video call with her friend, police said.
“Investigations revealed that it was a normal call and that she told her friend that it was her birthday the next day. She told the friend that she had a birthday gift for her. Even while making the video call, the woman allegedly hanged herself at around 12.24 am.”
Hotel staff reported the incident to the police after discovering the incident. A police team conducted an initial inspection and transferred the body to Osmania General Hospital for autopsy.
Langar Hauz Police Inspector Venkat Ramulu said the investigation is focusing on determining the exact sequence of events that led to the woman’s death. The police are examining CCTV footage from the hotel, analyzing her mobile phone, recording witness statements, and questioning the man who accompanied her.
“We have arrested her boyfriend for questioning and are trying to reconstruct the events before her death and determine if there was any crime,” the inspector said.
The woman’s family told police they did not believe the suicide theory and suspected she had been murdered.
“We are investigating all angles. We have registered a case of suspicious death. The cause and manner of death will be determined only after a thorough analysis of the post-mortem report, forensic examination and other evidence. Further investigations are underway,” Ramulu said.
