Nearly three weeks after the gruesome murder of a 19-year-old woman in Telangana’s Karimanagar town, police on Monday arrested her father, who killed her as he was unable to bear the expenditure for her treatment.

The police cracked the sensational case after thorough investigation involving 75 policemen and use of German technology that facilitates collection of forensic evidence, including blood stains washed with water.

The investigators used the technology to gather evidence from the undergarments and footwear of Mutha Komuraiah. He had washed the blood stains from his undergarments and footwear after slitting his daughter’s throat with a kitchen knife.

Police said he used a pillow to smother his daughter and then slit her throat.

Mutha Radhika, a student of Intermediate First Year (Class 11) was found murdered at her residence on February 10. Her parents, both daily wage earners, had told the police that they found their daughter in a pool of blood when they returned home in the evening.

Karimnagar Police Commissioner V. B. Kamalasan Reddy told reporters that Komuraiah planned the murder and executed it as he was unable to arrange Rs 6 lakh required for his daughter’s polio corrective surgery. He was worried over her ill-health and conduct of marriage.

The accused also concealed his wife’s three tolas of gold and Rs 99,000 cash from the house to mislead the investigators by making it a case of murder for gain.

He had also voiced his suspicion about the involvement of his tenants, whom he had forced vacate the house a few days ago. It was a well-planned murder as Komuraiah sent his wife to work before killing the daughter. Later, when he returned home, he enacted drama of crying on seeing her body.

The Police Commissioner said eight teams comprising 75 policemen were formed to investigate the sensational case. A team from Hyderabad police helped in the investigation with the German technology.