Pent-up feelings over parents’ bias towards their teenage daughter over food, buying a new mobile phone and other aspects in the house reportedly led Samuel Cutinho, 21, to murder his sister Fiona Swedal Cutinho, 16, on October 8 in Konaje police limits of Mangaluru City Police Commissionerate.
The police arrested Samuel on Sunday and sought the jurisdictional magistrate court to grant his custody for further investigation. On October 9, Fiona’s father Francis, who works as a water supply contractor, filed a complaint with the Konaje police about his daughter missing in Pajir since October 8. The police registered it as a case of abduction and a special team was formed to trace the girl.
Police Commissioner P.S. Harsha told presspersons here on Monday that they questioned Fiona’s family members and friends while gathering technical details about her movement. “The evidence suggested the involvement of family members in the incident,” Dr. Harsha said.
Contradictory statements
The investigation team took the parents into confidence and questioned Samuel, who was reportedly giving contradictory statements to the police about the incident. Samuel, an engineering dropout, who was addicted to narcotic drugs, reportedly admitted to murdering his sister soon after his parents left home on October 8. He reportedly took the police to a woody area near a stream, 100 m away from the house where he had allegedly dumped her body.
The police collected the skeletal remains and sent it for DNA profiling. A forensic report has been sought to confirm whether the weapon recovered was indeed the one reportedly used by the accused in the murder.
Premilinary questioning, Dr. Harsha said, showed that Samuel was unhappy with his parents giving preference to his sister. “These pent-up feelings against his sister seem to have prompted him to murder her,” Dr. Harsha said and added that a thorough investigation would reveal the exact reason.
The probe so far has not revealed involvement of anyone other than Samuel in the murder, he said.
Dr. Harsha commended Assistant Commissioner of Police (South) Kodandarama, Police Inspectors of Konaje police station and City Crime Branch and other personnel involved in cracking the case.
