Ex-lover’s text to a concerned friend after dentist’s death: ‘I feel disturbed too’
When a friend texted Harshwardhan Narde and asked where Dr Reddy was after she had gone missing, he replied, “I feel disturbed as well — am sitting at one place for the last 30 minutes.”
Murdered dentist Preethi Reddy steeled herself when she broke the news of her new romance to her fiery ex, telling him hours before he stabbed her and stuffed the body in a suitcase: “I’ve moved on, you need to do the same.”
Dr Reddy, 32, begged Harshwardhan Narde, who had been stalking her through Facebook and with texts in the six months since she had called their relationship off, to accept it was over, revealing she was moving to Melbourne to be with her new boyfriend.
But Dr Narde, 34, who had travelled 400 kms from Tamworth to see her at a dentists’ convention in St Leonards, pleaded for a second chance, and told of his new plan to open up a private practice in Sydney to be back with her.
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Although she was seen being friendly to him, sharing breakfasts, lunches and dinners at the conference over the weekend, friends say she was attempting to placate his temper.
It is believed Narde, 34, stabbed Dr Reddy to death in his room at the CBD Swissotel in Market St sometime on Sunday afternoon.
“Something in him cracked, and he became enraged, he wouldn’t accept it was over and had not left her alone since she broke it off,” a source close to the investigation said.
“This is the absolutely the definition of a crime of passion.
“Preethi told him she had met someone else and that it was serious and she was moving to Melbourne.”
Narde deleted his Facebook account hours before he executed his revenge plot. When a friend texted and asked where Dr Reddy was after she had gone missing, he replied, “I feel disturbed as well — am sitting at one place for the last 30 minutes.”
When asked whether Dr Reddy was “maybe sleeping somewhere”, he replied: “Maybe.”
Police believe after killing her he drove to Kingsford before dumping her car with her body in the boot.
Dr Narde, who worked as a dentist in Tamworth, then drove back to his Tamworth home late on Sunday night after he killed his former lover.
On Monday night after deliberately driving his car into a fully laden semi-trailer at Willow Tree, south of Tamworth and then drove his car into the truck.
The truck driver survived the firey crash in which Dr Narde perished.
By this time, Dr Reddy’s worried family and her current boyfriend had contacted police after she failed to return to her Penrith home.
Dr Reddy’s sister Nithya said in statement on behalf of the family her sister’s murder was an “unthinkable event”.
“Words cannot capture the pain we are feeling … she had been the happiest I’d ever seen her — she was living her best life,” she said.
Police have since uncovered CCTV footage of suspected murder-suicide killer needing help from a hotel porter to lift a large and heavy suitcase into the boot of a car.
The bag is believed to have contained the body of his former girlfriend.
Investigators spoke to Dr Narde on Monday. He then texted his neighbours saying he “wasn’t well and that his friend was missing”.
Hours later he was dead. Dr Reddy’s body was found in her car at 9.30pm on Tuesday.
“At that stage there was nothing to link him to Ms Reddy’s disappearance,’’ a police source said.
Dr Reddy was last seen alive on CCTV at a George St McDonald’s and then inside the foyer of the Swissotel Hotel after 2am on Sunday.
At 11am on Sunday, she rang her family to say she would head home after a late breakfast but she was not heard from or seen again.
Investigators are trying to establish why Dr Reddy, who was in a new relationship of around four months and had told friends she did not want anything to do with her former boyfriend, went to his hotel room.
“We know they are at a conference earlier in the day. We still don’t know where she went before she was seen alone at 2.15am on Sunday,’’ a police investigator said.
“Whether he lured her to his hotel room on some pretence we don’t know.’’
A conference attendee said Dr Reddy and Dr Narde “looked happy and stayed back to chat’’
after the conference ended at 7pm.
“The bizarre thing I noticed that night was that he took down his Facebook shortly after the conference. It made me wonder why.”
Another dentist who asked not to be named, said: “He was excited and told me he was opening up a practice in Sydney and exciting plans were afoot.
“I saw him with Preethi, at breakfast, lunch and dinner and they were always standing by each other at the conference, we knew they had been a relationship previously, she was friendly to him, they looked cosy, but were not tactile.”
Dr Reddy’s new boyfriend posted a heartbreaking tribute to her online on Tuesday.
“I’ll see you again one day … and we’ll continue where we left off my angel,” with a love heart emoji after desperately searching for her.
The Glenbrook dental surgery where Dr Reddy worked in the Blue Mountains was shut on Wednesday with a note taped to the doors saying “due to a tragedy concerning our beloved colleague, the surgery will be closed for the time being”.
Oasis Smiles Dental, where Dr Narde worked in Tamworth, posted a tribute to the dentist on Tuesday morning.
“It is with great sadness we announce the tragic passing of our beloved Harsh,” the post read.
“We send our deepest sympathy and our love to his family in India. We will miss him beyond words.”
Navniit Anand, a friend of Dr Reddy’s family said she was the daughter of a university professor and the pride and joy of her close-knit Western Sydney family.
Dr Reddy’s parents and sister were beside themselves with grief as they tried to process the disturbing death of their “lovely girl”, he said.
“Preethi comes from a very educated family, Dr Reddy, the father himself, is a university professor,” Mr Anand said.
REDDY FAMILY STATEMENT
“Words cannot capture the pain we are feeling with the passing of my beautiful big sister,” Nithya said.
“Preethi was a bright light, loveable, kind and protective of all whom were lucky enough to have been loved and cared for by her.
“Prior to this unthinkable event, she had been the happiest I’d ever seen her — she was living her best life.
“On behalf of my family, I want to thank anyone who shared our appeals to find her, and those who provided information to the police and us over the last few days.
“While we now know that Preethi is no longer with us, the certainty of her movements on Saturday night and Sunday morning are not yet fully known, and we will stay in touch with detectives as they work it all out.
“To the media, thank you for your assistance thus far, but please respect that our family, particularly my parents and Preethi’s partner, are going through the hardest thing that anyone can endure, and please respect that we need our privacy right now.
“We ask that everyone keep that in mind that we are grieving and we need space to do that.
“Finally, let the police do what they need to do to solve this horrific tragedy. Our family will never be the same without Preethi in our lives.
“Please let her beautiful soul rest in peace.”
If you or someone you know needs help, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or BeyondBlue on 1300 224 636. If it is an emergency please call triple-0.
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