Hyderabad: An IT employee was found dead in a lake near Peerzadiguda in the early hours of Friday, July 17, in a case whose cause police are yet to establish.

The deceased was identified as Tejaswini, a resident of Shankar Nagar locality in Peerzadiguda. She was without her clothes when her body was found, the police said.

Closed circuit television (CCTV) footage from the area showed Tejaswini running through the streets without her clothes on at around 2.30 am on Friday, stopping briefly at a nearby temple to pick up a saree draped on the deity’s idol before continuing on her way. 

The footage also showed a man in the vicinity who ran off after spotting her. Police later questioned him and he told them he was startled by what he saw.

According to the police, Tejaswini and her mother had moved into a rented house in Peerzadiguda about a month earlier. The mother told investigators that the two had an argument on Thursday night, July 16, after which Tejaswini locked her inside the house before leaving. 

Police said the mother and daughter had been quarrelling for the past few days, and that the mother had mentioned Tejaswini had recently been troubled by nightmares and had been making sounds in her sleep.

Police have seized Tejaswini’s phone as part of the investigation, which is ongoing. Further details are awaited.

Speaking to Siasat.com, an official from Medipally Police said that Tejaswini was not of sound mind and had a phobia, without elaborating on what kind. “At around 2:30 am, Tejaswini went to a temple near her house, grabbed an idol and jumped into a nearby pond,” the official said.