The man arrested for the murder of Sourabh Rastogi had confessed his crime to his family the very next day and was expecting to be arrested any time, say police officers.
Police sources say Rashwin Changappa told them that he felt he would be tracked down as soon as he came out of the flat after committing the murder and, hence, confessed to his father A C Ramesh, an ex-serviceman, and prepared his family for his arrest.
Police said that Changappa was in love with Sourabh's wife Ankita Rastogi. He befriended her after asking her to train him in accountancy since he was pursuing his MBA through correspondence. He panicked on learning that Sourabh had got a job in the US and the couple would shift by the month-end. He was aware that Ankita would be visiting relatives in Pune and, in that period, Sourabh would be alone at home.
Investigations revealed that Changappa went to the flat and had a long conversation with Sourabh about their shift to the US. He proposed to rent out their flat and buy the furniture before attacking Sourabh. He later had a shower in the flat, wore one of Sourabh’s shirts and left the house with some valuables to mislead the police.
A close look at the call records of the wife of the deceased revealed that Changappa was in constant touch with her in the months preceding the murder, which led the police to suspect a crime of passion and detain him for questioning.
No clean chit for wifeChangappa denied any role of Ankita in the murder. However, the police are not ready to take his claim at face value.
City police commissioner Raghavendra H Auradkar said that the investigation is not over and they are probing the possibility of the involvement of Ankita in the murder.
Another senior officer said police had some material that had raised suspicion of her involvement, but it is not sufficient to arrest her. They are looking for more credible evidence.
