The police on Friday arrested a person on charges of murdering his paramour and burying her body in Eluru on April 18.

The victim, M. Vishali (36), a native of Showripuram, left home on April 18, and did not return. Acting on a complaint, the Eluru Three Town police registered a missing case. Based on the confession of the accused, the body was exhumed, and the missing case registered earlier changed into a murder case, the police said.

Investigation revealed that the accused, identified as Darshan Francis Showry, a milk vendor, reportedly had extra-marital affairs with Vishali. “The accused allegedly killed the woman and tried to tamper with the evidence,” said Eluru district Superintendent of Police K. Pratap Shiva Kishore.

Suspecting that the woman was speaking to others over phone, Darshan Francis allegedly planned to kill her.

On April 18, he took Vishali to an isolated place near Polavaram Canal at Pallerlamudi village and allegedly strangled her with a chunni to death. He allegedly smashed her body with a boulder and dumped the body in the bushes, said Deputy Superintendent of Police D. Sravan Kumar on Friday.

On April 23, the accused visited the scene of the crime, buried the body and burnt her clothes. He escaped the scene with the mobile phone of the victim.

The team led by Three Town Circle Inspector V. Koteswara Rao tracked the mobile phone of the accused and found that the he was in contact with the woman till she left home on April 18.

The accused had sent messages from Vishali’s mobile phone to her husband to mislead the police, damaged the phone and threw it into a water body, the DSP said.