Extramarital affair leads to murder of journalist, four detainees

Hyderabad: An extramarital affair allegedly led to the murder of journalist Mohammed Iqbal in Rajendranagar on June 11, police said.

Four people, including the victim’s wife, were arrested by Rajendranagar police. Those arrested were Mohammed Lateef, 32, Mohd Osman, 21, Shaik Sofian, 21, and Meraj Begum, 36, the victim’s wife.

Mohammed Iqbal alias Pramod Kumar, 40, a Golconda resident from Uttar Pradesh, worked as a journalist for a YouTube channel.

DCP (Shamshabad) R Jagadeeshwar Reddy said Iqbal married Meraj Begum around 17 years ago and the couple live in Golconda. A few years ago, Lateef had borrowed Rs.2 lakh from Iqbal and on the pretext often went to Iqbal’s house. He also became friends with Meraj Begum. Hearing of this, Iqbal warned Lateef to stay away from his wife. Lateef then planned to kill Iqbal, he said.

“On June 11, when they learned from Meraj that Iqbal was going to Siddipet on his scooter, Lateef and two others attacked him in Tolichowki and kidnapped him and moved him to a car. As the car was moving, the assailants stabbed Iqbal to death,” the DCP said, adding that they took the body to Musi River in Sun City and after tying a block of cement with nylon rope, had thrown him into the river. .

The suspected police tracked down Lateef, who confessed to the murder during questioning.