An engineering student beheaded his friend, cut opened his belly and ripped out his heart, before chopping off the private parts as an act of revenge for allegedly harassing his girlfriend.

The victim was a 22-year-old tribal student of Mahatma Gandhi Engineering College, Nalgonda, and the crime was committed at Pedda Amberpet on the outskirts of Hyderabad on February 18.

The incident came to light on Friday, when the accused, P Hari Hara Krishna, 21, surrendered to Abdullapurmet police and confessed to having murdered his friend, N Naveen. The victim’s family members staged protests at the police station on Saturday, demanding justice.

During interrogation, police came to know that the victim, Naveen, and accused Krishna were classmates in their college days in Dilsukhnagar. At that time, Naveen was in love with a girl, but the duo drifted apart two years later after a quarrel.

After that, she grew close to Krishna and entered in a relationship.  Naveen allegedly began harassing her by repeatedly calling and messaging her. She told Krishna about her ordeal three months ago and the latter decided to eliminate Naveen.

On February 17, the accused invited Naveen at a get-together. After having dinner at Krishna’s house in Dilsukhnagar, they roamed around the city for a few hours. In the evening, Naveen sought to return to his college hostel at Narketpally in Nalgonda. And in the guise of dropping him to the campus, the accused took the victim to a desolate area in Pedda Amberpet.

He gulped down liquor and also purchased a knife, the police said. Krishna then picked up an argument with Naveen in a drunken stupor and strangled him with a rope in the early hours of February 18. After the murder, Krishna chopped off his head and then ripped off his heart by cutting the stomach open.He also severed the victim’s private parts, fingers and threw the body aside before leaving.

Family members of the victim lodged a missing complaint with Narketpally police of Nalgonda, but the incident came to light only after the accused surrendered before cops. The accused was arrested on charges of murder, wiping out evidence and violation of SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.