Techies kill colleague at birthday party, four arrested | Hyderabad News – Times of India

HYDERABAD: Ghatkesar police arrested four persons, including three IT professionals, Tuesday on charges of killing a colleague during a birthday party at a farmhouse on the city outskirts. Police said, two key accused pushed Gajambikal Ajay Teja, 24, into the pool and tried to pass it off as accidental drowning. They knew Teja could not swim.
Preliminary investigations revealed the accused, Ranjith Reddy and Sai Kumar, had professional differences with Teja.Manager of the IT firm, Srikanth, was also arrested on charges of illegally serving liquor at the party. Excise rules make it mandatory for organisers to seek the department’s permission if they serve more than six bottles of alcohol at a private place, but this group of 25 did not have one. The fourth person arrested is Venkatesh, the farmhouse owner, for failing to implement safety measures around the pool.
“Srikanth planned the party for his employees to celebrate his birthday and reward his team for the successful completion of a project. The party was planned for Sept 1, and he informed everybody – men and women staff – about it on Aug 3 through a WhatsApp group,” said a police officer.
Around 12:30am on Monday, Ranjith and Sai took Teja outside, pushed him into the pool, and then rejoined the party. “About an hour later, people noticed Teja was missing and started to look for him. They found him unconscious inside the pool. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead,” police said.While the police initially registered a case of suspicious death, they changed the sections to murder following further probe.
The accused confessed to the crime during questioning. “They had differences at office over trivial issues and used the party to kill Teja. All four have been sent to 14-day judicial remand,” said S Saidulu, station house officer, Ghatkesar.