The Hindupur II Town police on Sunday arrested Pisingi Mahesh Verma, 26, of Eturunagaram, the prime accused in the murder of a Warangal-based doctor.
A post-graduate student of Diplomate of National Board (DNB) in Gynaecology, at a medical college in Karnataka, she was found dead in a lodge in Hindupur town of Sri Sathya Sai district on Wednesday last.
In-charge of Disha Police Station and Deputy Superintendent of Police A. Srinivaslu said a mobile phone, the key evidence, was recovered from the accused.
Verma had a harassment case registered against him at the Ramachandrapuram police station in the past. He had also served a jail term.
The accused had befriended the doctor during a bus journey five months ago and had been in touch with her since then through Instagram.
On July 2, Verma had proposed to marry her. But when she refused saying she had already been married and was mother of a two-year-old girl, Verma allegedly started blackmailing her by morphing her pictures, took her to Bengaluru and raped her.
Later, promising to return her the morphed pictures, Verma took her to Hindupur on August 24 and eliminated her, Mr. Srinivasulu, quoting the confession of the accused, told the media.
Superintendent of Police Rahul Dev Singh had handed over the case to the Disha DSP, Dharmavaram DSP Ramakanth and II Town CI Venkateswarlu.