A day after the body of a woman was found in the UG Regal lodge in Cottonpet, the police have confirmed that the man who checked into the Durgamba lodge in Upparpet on Sunday was indeed the same person who checked in at the first lodge with the victim on Sunday. The deceased, Roopali Mishra, aged around 25, who died of several stab injuries, had accompanied the man, who called himself Santosh Kumar. Her decomposed body was found by the room boys who opened the cupboard into which it was stuffed on Wednesday.
Santosh, who checked out a few hours later, took a room at the Durgamba lodge in Upparpet. On Monday morning, the hotel staff discovered a dagger from the room. The police suspect the murder took place on Sunday itself.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) C. Rajappa said the CCTV footage at the Regal hotel confirmed that it was the same man who checked in at Durgamba.
He was optimistic the police would be able to make some headway in the investigation once the victim’s parents arrive from Uttar Pradesh on Friday.
Unconfirmed reports said Roopali had been stabbed 27 times, though the police said they would confirm it only after the post-mortem.
They said Kanpur native Roopali, who lived in Kumaraswamy Layout, had quit her job with a private bank three months ago.