Hyderabad This is face off 2017.

A 28-year-old woman, Swathi, conspired to kill her husband and replace him with her paramour, who she disfigured in the process by throwing acid in his face.

The move was part of a plan to make the latter undergo plastic surgery and take the identity of her husband.

The inspiration allegedly came from a 2014 Telugu thriller “Yevadu” (Who) in which actor Allu Arjun undergoes plastic surgery to take the identity of another actor Ramcharan Teja.

According to the Nagarkurnool police, the crime was committed about a fortnight ago but was brought to their notice now.

Swathi, a house wife from the Nagarkurnool district of Telangana, allegedly conspired with her paramour Rajesh to kill her 32 year old husband Sudhakar Reddy.

The two executed the plan at her home on the night of November 26 when Swathi hit her husband on the head with a blunt object.

As Reddy fell unconscious she called Rajesh to her house.

After killing Reddy the two wrapped him in a mat and drove to Navapet forest under Fatehnagar mandal where they burnt the body and dumped it in a ditch.

Swathi was married to Reddy, a businessman, seven years ago but had developed extra marital relations with Rajesh two years ago, police said.

The couple had two children.

“Swathi developed intimacy with Rajesh when she visited his clinic in Nagarkurnool for the treatment of her back pain,” DSP A Lakshminarayana said.

Reddy found out about her illicit relations a few days ago and Swathi had become fearful, the officer said.

Swathi’s plan to bring home Rajesh in place of her husband moved into the next phase.

Two days after the murder, with the willingness of Rajesh, she poured acid on his face and the body to disfigure him before informing Sudhakar Reddy’s parents that their son was injured in an attack by four unknown persons with acid. Initially she admitted him to a local hospital and later Reddy’s panic-stricken parents shifted him to a private hospital in Hyderabad. Sudhakar’s brother Surender Reddy lodged a complaint with the Nagarkurnool police and an attempt to murder case was booked.

Everything was moving according to Swathi’s plan as her in laws were under the impression that the person under treatment at the hospital was their son Sudhakar.

However the parents and other relatives started developing suspicion about the identity of the man as his behavior and physical appearance was distinctly different from Sudhakar Reddy. “The family alerted us and we started the investigation,” Jogu Chennaiah, Additional SP, Nagarkurnool district, said.

The quick thinking cops scanned Rajesh’s finger prints at the hospital and compared it with Reddy’s bio metric details on the basis of his Aadhar card.

The discovery was shocking. “With this simple move we were able to establish the fact that the person in hospital was not Sudhakar Reddy,” said the ASP.

The police immediately took Swathi into custody and during the questioning she broke down and admitted to the murder of her husband.

Based on the information provided by her, they recovered the burnt remnants of the body from the forest area.

Swathi was produced in the court and has been remanded to judicial custody.

The police, who have booked cases under section 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of Indian Penal code have also made a formal arrest of Rajesh and are waiting for his discharge from the hospital to produce him in the court.