Nurse Raped and Murdered in Quarters off Srisailam Highway; Suspect Detained

A 21-year-old nurse was found raped and murdered inside her hostel room at a private hospital quarters located on the Srisailam Highway, within the Pahadishareef police station limits in Hyderabad, police said on Sunday.

Pahadishareef police have detained a suspect, identified as Md Sanaullah, a native of Bihar who worked as a mechanic and supervisor at a real estate company. According to police, Sanaullah allegedly confessed during questioning that he entered the victim's room through a ventilator at around 2.40 am on Saturday. When she resisted and raised an alarm, he allegedly smothered and strangled her before fleeing back through the ventilator.

The victim, who belonged to the ST community and hailed from Bhadrachalam, had been working at the hospital for seven months and lived with a colleague in the nurses' quarters on the premises. The crime came to light when she failed to report for her noon shift on Saturday. Colleagues called her phone without response and subsequently alerted hospital security. Staff discovered the room latched from the inside, peered through the ventilator, and saw her lying on the floor. Duty doctors declared her dead before alerting the police.

Police suspect the intruder accessed the premises by jumping over a low compound wall from an adjacent open plot. The quarters, situated at the rear of the hospital building near Nehru ORR Exit-14, lacked adequate lighting and security personnel.

Investigators and Clues teams visited the scene to gather evidence. A postmortem examination conducted at the Osmania General Hospital mortuary confirmed that the woman had been raped and sustained multiple injuries, including bleeding wounds on her face.

The incident prompted protests in front of the Pahadishareef police station by the victim's family, joined by local Congress and BJP leaders. BJP Maheshwaram constituency incharge Andela Sriramulu Yadav and other leaders visited the OGH mortuary, alleging police negligence and calling for severe punishment.

Women and Child Welfare Minister Danasari 'Seethakka' Anasuya spoke with DGP C.V. Anand to demand an expedited and thorough investigation. Department officials visited the Pahadishareef police station and submitted a preliminary report to the minister. The victim's family received the body from the mortuary and transported it to Bhadrachalam for the final rites.