Nalgonda, Telangana: In a chilling case that has sent shockwaves through Telangana’s Nalgonda district, two Class 10 students have been detained for allegedly murdering their school principal, Roopa Reddy, in her own home for money—turning a relationship between teacher and student into one of betrayal, greed and brutal violence.
Roopa Reddy was allegedly killed on August 11 after the two minors entered her residence with the intention of stealing cash. What initially appeared to be a blind murder has now unfolded into a disturbing trail of resentment, surveillance, a planned house recce and blood-stained currency.
Nalgonda Superintendent of Police Sharath Chandra Pawar said police constituted five teams and examined footage from nearly 70 CCTV cameras to crack the case.
The crucial breakthrough came from Roopa Reddy’s final conversation with her aunt. During the conversation, she was heard addressing someone as “Babu”—a term she routinely used for students at her school. Investigators began examining students who were conspicuously absent around the time of the murder.
The school remained closed for four days following her death. When it reopened, police identified 13 students who had been absent and began questioning them. Five were Class 10 students. Two of them soon attracted attention because they were allegedly spending money unusually lavishly.
The suspicion deepened when police reportedly recovered Rs 1.54 lakh in cash from one of the minors. His explanation—that the money had been given to him by his parents—failed to satisfy investigators.
More disturbingly, police noticed bloodstains on the currency notes. The cash was sent for forensic examination, and police said the blood was subsequently confirmed to be that of Roopa Reddy.
That finding transformed suspicion into a breakthrough.
Investigators then began reconstructing the background and movements of the two students. According to police, one of the accused had earlier lived in the school hostel and was fond of alcohol and motorcycles. Roopa Reddy had allegedly discovered cash and a mobile phone in his bag, reprimanded him and subsequently shifted him from hostel accommodation to day-scholar status.
Police suspect the action fuelled resentment against the principal.
The investigation also allegedly revealed that the student had travelled to Goa about a month before the killing and was looking for ways to raise money. Five days before the murder, he allegedly conducted a recce of Roopa Reddy’s residence.
Police suspect he knew that money collected as school fees could be kept at the principal’s house, making it a lucrative target.
On August 11, Roopa Reddy returned home from school, unaware that the two students allegedly waiting for an opportunity had already planned the attack.
Police allege that the minors scaled the compound wall, entered the house wearing masks and attacked her. During the assault, however, one of the accused allegedly lost his mask, allowing Roopa Reddy to recognise him.
What followed was a horrifying escalation. Police allege that the accused repeatedly attacked her with a knife, stabbing her 27 times before fleeing with cash and mobile phones.
The investigation subsequently led to the recovery of Rs 1.54 lakh, an iPhone and Roopa Reddy’s mobile phone from the accused, police said.
The case has therefore taken a particularly disturbing turn: the alleged killers were not strangers who happened upon the house, but students who had previously sat in the classroom of the woman they are accused of murdering.
The case also raises uncomfortable questions about how resentment, easy access to money and reckless aspirations can drive young minds towards extreme violence. A teacher’s reprimand, however harsh it may have seemed to a student, could never justify such calculated brutality.
As both accused are minors, police said they would be produced before the Juvenile Justice Court.
SP Sharath Chandra Pawar said the investigation established that both accused had previously been taught by Roopa Reddy.
For a teacher who spent her life educating children, the alleged manner of her death is perhaps the most disturbing dimension of the case: the trail leading to her killers reportedly began not with hardened criminals, but with two students who once knew her as their principal.
