UK student's family denies she had affair with suspect

Hyderabad: The family of V S Jyothirmayee, who was allegedly murdered by her roommate in Birmingham, has denied that she had an affair with him while the suspect's father has demanded a probe into the killing.

Jyothirmayee's father, V Naga Saibaba, told newspersons in Vijayawada that the family was disturbed by reports in a section of media that she was in love with the boy, N Nagraj Kumar, and that a quarrel led to her murder.

He said it was unfair on the part of some news channels to spread "falsehoods" about a woman brutally killed.

"These reports have disturbed us. My daughter had an excellent academic record and she had no affair with anybody," said Saibaba, a former film distributor.

Some family members, however, said she had not informed her parents that she was sharing the apartment with a boy. They were informed that she was living with some Telugu-speaking girls.

Jyothirmayee, who was studying for a master's degree in public health from the University of Wolverhampton, was found murdered on Tuesday night and Kumar was lying injured in the house they were sharing, on the outskirts of Birmingham.

Two days later, the West Midlands Police charged Kumar with the murder. He had allegedly inflicted injuries on himself to mislead the police.

Kumar's father N Shivanarayana is not ready to believe that his son is a murderer.

"The whole incident appears to be mysterious because my son's friends had told me over phone that the girl died and his son was injured in the attack by some blacks," he told newsmen here on Saturday.

"The British police should conduct a thorough probe. If my son did anything wrong, punish him but it should be done only after investigations. It is unfair to brand him a murderer before the investigations are completed," said Shivanarayana.

Both Kumar's father and mother V Vageshwari are principals in private colleges in Hyderabad. Family members said Vageshwari fainted after hearing that her son was arrested on murder charges and had to be taken to hospital.

She was brought home to their Vasudha Apartments home in Jeedimetla neighbourhood late on Friday night. Media persons had found the house locked during the day and some neighbours alleged that the family had gone into hiding.

Shivanarayana said he had no knowledge that his son was having an affair with a fellow student.

"He never mentioned her during conversations over phone with me. My son is calm and quiet and known for his gentle nature. He was never violent. I don't believe that he murdered the girl," he said.

Kumar, like Jyothirmayee, had gone to Britain in September last year through the same consultancy. They did their bachelors in physiotherapy in NTR University of Health in 2005 and went to Britain along with four others to pursue higher education.

Kumar's family originally hails from Karimnagar district and was residing in Hyderabad since the last four years.

Meanwhile, Jyothirmayee's family has been informed by Birmingham police that it would take at least three weeks to send her body to India.

Her parents are yet to decide whether to leave for Birmingham or to appeal to the government to take it up with the British authorities to complete the legal formalities at the earliest, and send the body home.

The state government is ready to send her parents to Birmingham. The family wants to perform her last rites in her home town.

The regional passport office, however, said the family would have to bear the cost of bringing the body.