By IANS,
New Delhi : Delhi Police Tuesday said they had arrested four men who were behind the murders of two young working women whose killings – one six months ago and one last week – had rocked the capital.
Police said the same people were behind the killings of TV journalist Soumya Vishwanathan and IT executive Jigisha Ghosh, who were both killed after midnight as they were returning from work. Both were in their twenties.
Jigisha was found smothered to death last Friday. Soumya had been shot dead Sep 30 last year.
The murders had raised questions about the security of working women in the capital, especially those like journalists or call centre executives who work in night shifts.
The murder weapon used to kill Soumya and vehicles used in the crimes have been recovered, police said, adding that there was “enough evidence” to book the perpetrators on murder charges.
“Both the murder mysteries have been solved. The accused have been arrested. We have recovered the murder weapon and vehicles used. We have enough evidence to book them for murder,” said Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat.
The four arrested men have been identified as Ravi Kapoor, resident of Madangir who was the head of the gang, Baljeet Malik, a resident of Masoodpur, Amit Kumar Shukla from Lado Sarai, and Ajay Kumar from Munirka. A fifth member of the gang that operated in south Delhi is said to be absconding. Ravi has been involved in many criminal cases in the past, police alleged.
The gang operated in south and south-west Delhi, police said.
Jigisha, 28, a resident of Vasant Vihar in south Delhi, had left her home for office in Noida Tuesday but did not return home, though her office cab had dropped her outside the block of flats where she lived. Her body was discovered by Faridabad police three km from Surajkund Friday night.
Describing the sequence of event’s in Jigisha’s case Delhi Police Commssioner Y.S. Dadwal said: “She came home at 4.15 a.m. and was three metres from her CPWD colony home in Vasant Vihar. She was talking on the phone. The gang was cruising, looking for a target. On the pretext of seeking directions, they lured her to the car and took her in. They then took her ATM card, withdrew Rs.20,000 from Mahipalpur.”
The assailants then drove toward Saket where they again withdrew Rs.5,000. They drove toward Surajkund after that. Jigisha was told that she would be freed but fearing that she would recognise them later, the assailants smothered her to death and dumped her body on the roadside, Dadwal said.
The gang tried to spend the cash soon and shopped at markets in Sarojini Nagar and Saket. They were apprehended when a constable identified Baljeet Malik from CCTV footage recorded at an ATM in Saket.
The gang was caught on Nelson Mandela Marg, Dadwal said, adding that their Santro car had various stickers of senior officers. “The gang was well-organised to commit crime,” Dadwal added.
Soumya, 25, was found dead in her car in Vasant Kunj area of south Delhi around 3.30 a.m. Sep 30 when she was returning from work to her home in Sector-C of Vasant Kunj. Reconstructing the events in Soumya’s case, the police commissioner said that the gang members were drunk when they targeted Soumya.
“The accused got drunk at Amit’s place and were going to drop Ajay to his Munirka home. On the way, in front of the Vasant Vihar Priya complex, Soumya’s car crossed theirs. Amit told them to chase her. As they closed in her trying to stop her, Ravi took out his countrymade pistol and shot at a point blank range. The bullet hit Soumya in the head. The gang turned the vehicle around to see that she had been hit, and fled the scene,” Dadwal said.
The police claimed to have found the weapon used in Soumya’s murder and an empty cartridge.
“This will be subject to verification by forensic experts,” Dadwal added.
“I am very happy. I am satisfied with how the case was investigated. We have full faith in the police efforts,” Soumya’s father M.K. Vishwanathan told a news channel.