Published Oct 12, 2026 | 7:29 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 12, 2026 | 7:29 PM
The accused killed the child and hid the body in the basement
Synopsis: During questioning, Vikram reportedly told investigators that he entered the community at about 6.40 pm on Saturday to abduct the girl and extract ₹20 lakh from her parents. He allegedly claimed that he was there to help with the arrangements for Bathukamma celebration in order to enter the premises.
A day after five-year-old Aurelia was found dead in a gated community in Kowkoor, the Malkajgiri police on Monday, 12 October, said they had arrested a former security guard of the same complex for her murder. They described the killing as the result of a failed kidnap-for-ransom plan.
The accused, Vikram Kumar, a native of Nalanda district in Bihar, was taken into custody around 4.30 pm on Sunday. He had worked as a guard at Villa Orchids gated community from September 22 to October 6, police said.
The case was registered at Bollarum police station after Aurelia’s father, Milton Fernandez, a research scientist, filed a complaint on Saturday night.
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Ten special teams, drawn from the Malkajgiri zone, the Special Operations Team, crime units and Special Branch, were deployed to trace her. Technical teams meanwhile studied call records of the number used to demand the ransom and went through CCTV footage.
When these efforts failed, police widened the search inside the community, on the intervening night of 10 and 11 October. The CCTV footage showed only Vikram leaving the premises and Aurelia nowhere to be found. Aurelia’s body was then found in the clubhouse cellar’s water sump, which few residents visit, and had no CCTV surveillance mechanism.
Investigators then turned to Vikram’s background, including his residence in Kowkoor, his employment history and the people he lived with. Forensic examinations are under way to establish how the child died and the sequence of events, police said.
During questioning, Vikram reportedly told investigators that he entered the community at about 6.40 pm on Saturday to abduct the girl and extract ₹20 lakh from her parents. He allegedly claimed that he was there to help with the arrangements for the Bathukamma celebration in order to enter the premises.
Police said he was keen to get rich quickly and unwilling to continue in his current occupation. He reportedly picked Aurelia because he knew about her family being wealthy and was sure that they would pay the amount he demanded.
Vikram allegedly lured the child into the Clubhouse’s basement, but realised it would be hard to keep her with him until the family paid up, so he decided to kill her and hide the body in the basement. He strangled her to death and then tied her body to two large rocks and dropped it in the sump.
He then moved around the city, making calls to her family from different locations and demanding ransom, before being nabbed by the police on the evening of 11 October.
Malkajgiri Commissioner of Police B Sumathi said at a press conference on Monday that the incident was a reminder that gated communities cannot depend on access control and security staff alone. She stressed background checks on workers, closer supervision, vigilant residents, and better coordination between resident welfare associations and the police.
RWAs and apartment associations were urged to join the Mee Suraksha Domestic Helpers Verification Initiative and the Nenu Saitham 2.0 CCTV Surveillance Programme. Police added that an awareness meeting had already been held in the same colony.
The Commissioner refuted earlier reports of cooperation from security staff and clarified that Vikram acted alone and no other suspect was involved in the crime.
She said that Vikram used a security guard’s SIM card to make the ransom call and took financial help from a security in charge, saying he was planning to travel to his home town. The two men were unaware of his motives, the CP said.
She also said that so far, there has been no criminal record of Vikram, and a search of the national database and the Bihar police records yielded no prior criminal cases.
Tension marked the press meet at the Commissioner’s camp office, where several Villa Orchids residents gathered. The residents held posters calling for the harshest punishment for the accused. Some called for the accused to be hanged or given life imprisonment, while others asked the police to hand him over to them.
Police said Vikram was being produced before a court. The investigation will be completed at the earliest, and the case will be pursued before a Fast Track Court. In a press note shared during the meet, police noted that they would seek capital punishment for the accused.
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(Edited by Sumavarsha, with inputs from Sreshta Ladegam.)
