With the major breakthrough in the Jigeesha ghosh murder case the Delhi police on Monday claimed to have solved the two sensational murder cases of Soumya Viswanathan, producer with an English news channel was found murdered in her Zen, on Nelson Mandela Marg in New Delhi on September 30, 2008, while returning from the office and Jigeesha Ghosh, a resident of Vasant Vihar in south Delhi, had left her home for office in Noida on Tuesday but did not return home. Her body was discovered by Faridabad police in the bushes near Surajkund on March 19. In both the case though, one thing is similar that there was no sexual assault attempted making it a theft case. The Delhi police arrested four person in this connection and also recovered the weapons and vehicles used in both the crimes.
According to Jagannath Ghosh, father of the victim, their daughter was ‘responsible’ enough and always informed them about her activities. Ghosh also ruled enmity being the motive behind the murder as her daughter did not have any enemy to his knowledge but did not ruled out the possibility of any professional rivalry. Jigeesha last spoke to her parents just before midnight on March 17 and informed them that she would reach home early to watch the cricket match between India and New Zealand on TV. However, her father accused the office staff for negligence and failing to provide security to Jigeesha. He said the cab driver dropped her at the colony gates nearly 300 meters the flat and never waited to see her reaching home safely.
However, DCP (south) H G S Dhaliwal has ruled out any possibility of sexual assault as he informed that doctors conducting the autopsy found no injury marks which say that theft was the motive behind the crime. The cab driver, guard and another colleague of Jigeesha who was present inside the cab on the fateful morning was also interrogated by the police. The cops also questioned another colleague of the victim with whom she was talking over phone when she was dropped. The mobile details have revealed that the vehicle in which she was kidnapped moved towards Mahipalpur and then went towards Faridabad. Her mobile phones were found to be switched off since March 18 morning.
The preliminary post-mortem report suggested that she was smothered to death. The assailants had used her ATM card to withdraw money from the State Bank of India ATM in Mahipalpur and Rs 5,000 from HDFC Bank ATM card in Saket. Besides using it to buy certain items from Sarojini Nagar market. They bought a pair of Reebok shoes worth Rs 5,000 at 11.54am from Sarojini Nagar, an LCD TV costing Rs 16,500 at 1.19 pm from Nauroji Nagar Market, sunglasses for Rs 450 and music CDs for Rs 500 at 12.40 pm and wrist-watches at 1.20 pm from nearby markets in south Delhi. Fake Saket addresses were provided them. The arrested persons have been identified as Ravi, Baljit, Amit and Ajay who are from Bulandshar in Uttar Pradesh. However, police is yet to nab one of their associates who is absconding. The arrested men would be produced in court on Tuesday, said a senior police.
However, the police will have to reply to certain missing links in the case before it slams the case. If they are the same assailants who killed Soumya and was looming at large in the same area then what was the police doing during these months claiming to have increased the night patrols and posting PCR near the colony gates at night. How could the cab driver confidently claim to have seen Jigeesha climbing her apartment’s stairs when the distance between the flat and colony gate is nearly 300 meters. Also what was the colony guard doing as he should have been suspicious seeing Jigeesha going out with identified men in the car especially when she was dropped home by the office cab minutes ago. Why did not the shopkeeper got suspicious when these four men were purchasing on Jigeesha‘s card.
Finally, both Soumya Vishwanathan and Jigeesha Ghosh and many more like them have to commute at the odd hours of night or early morning especially those working with call centers. One finds it difficult to understand what is the Delhi police doing to protect the reoccurrence of such incidents or is it waiting for another gruesome incident to wake up. However, if the Chief Minister of Delhi can go on record after Soumya’s murder saying
“all by herself till 3 am at night in a city where people believe…you know…you should not be so adventurous.” and suggested women to stay indoors instead. One can well understand the reputation of the Delhi police force and the image it has among the masses which proudly says “for you, with you always”.
