By Lalit K. Jha, IANS,
New York : Arpana Jinaga, a software professional from Hyderabad who was working with a major IT company in Seattle, was strangulated to death in her apartment in the wee hours of Saturday, an autopsy report has revealed.
James Sosik, investigator at the King County Medical Examination Office who conducted the autopsy, told IANS that Arpana was strangulated to death in her apartment at about 3.30 a.m. Saturday.
In the autopsy report, the cause of Arpana’s death is listed as asphyxia due to ligature strangulation and the manner of her death as homicide. Preliminary police investigation has corroborated the report.
City police spokesperson Jim Bove said the front door of Arpana’s apartment in Redmond Woodinville was forced open, shattering the door jam.
“There is indication of a physical struggle by the victim,” Bove told IANS.
Arpana, 24, lived alone in the apartment in Redmond, a suburb of Seattle. She worked with the EMC Corporation in Seattle.
Redmond police Tuesday registered a case of homicide and launched a massive manhunt to nab the assailant.
They questioned a number of friends and work colleagues of Arpana along with those living in her apartment complex.
“We are in the early stages of this investigation and it will likely take several days before we have more extensive information.” Bove said.
Arpana’s dead body was found by the police in her apartment Monday morning, after they received an emergency call from one of her friends. The friend, whose name has not been disclosed, went to check on her following a frantic call from her father B.C. Jinaga.
Jinaga, a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Technology University in Hyderabad, had not received any call from Arpana for the past few days. Anxious to know the whereabouts of his daughter, Jinaga had sought the help of her friend.
“The friend found her dead and immediately called the police,” Bove said.
Arpana’s murder by an unknown assailant in her apartment has sent shock waves among Indians in the US, particular the students. This is the fifth such incident of murder this year of students from Andhra Pradesh living in the US.
Besides working with the IT Company, Arpana was also pursuing her MS degree at Seattle. Her family members in Hyderabad said she was among the top-20 professionals of embedded systems in the world.