Gudur (Andhra Pradesh), Jul 2 (IANS): The police in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district are waiting to arrest a hospitalised jilted lover accused of murdering the girl he loved.

Venkateshwarlu (30), who works as a software engineer in Bengaluru, slashed the throat of Tejaswini (21), a final year engineering student at the a college in Gudur in Nellore district.

"Currently, he is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Nellore. We will arrest him once he is discharged," a police officer told IANS on Friday.

According to the police, Venkateshwarlu had entered Tejaswini's home on Thursday morning after ensuring that her teacher parents were off to work.

As per sources, both the girl and the boy were in a relationship for about four years but were estranged at the time of the crime.

Incidentally, both the families knew each other by virtue of the fathers working in the same school earlier. While Tejaswini's father taught English, Venkateshwarlu's father was a record assistant in the same school.

It is believed that Vekateshwarlu and Tejaswini knew each other from the time the latter was studying in the intermediate level.

"Both of them were in love and even thought of marrying. However, the wide age gap between the two came as a hindrance," said a source.

Consequently, since the past year, Tejaswini's family made sure that she cut off all ties with Venkateshwarlu, highlighting the almost 10-year age gap as one of the reasons for keeping Venkateshwarlu away.

After Tejaswini's father threatened that he will file a police case against Venkateshwarlu, the latter's father assured that he will send his son away to Bengaluru for job to settle the issue.

"Since the last one month, Venkateshwarlu was staying at home because of the Covid lockdown and was trying to contact the girl, leading to her changing her phone number," said the police officer.

After his attempts to procure Tejaswini's new phone number failed, he finally decided to go to her home and meet her in the absence of her parents.

Venkateshwarlu had shared the photograph and registration number of the vehicle of Tejaswini's parents with one of his friends so that the latter could inform him once they left their home.

Before his entry, he even sent his friends -- Prudhvi and Shiva -- to check the atmosphere inside Tejaswini's home and find out why she had changed her phone number.

Later, Venkateshwarlu stormed into her home, pushing aside her minor brother, and took her into the bedroom and locked it from inside before slashing her throat. He also throttled her with a bed sheet to ensure that she was dead.

Meanwhile, the neighbours and the police tried to break open the door to rescue the girl, which prompted him to attempt suicide with the help of a saree.

The police rushed the two to a nearby hospital where the girl was declared dead, while Venkateshwarlu is undergoing treatment.

A manhunt has been launched to nab his friends who helped him before the crime was committed.