A 31-year-old software engineer was strangulated to death with the cable of a mobile phone charger in her apartment in Kadugodi on Tuesday. The police suspect that the culprit was known to her.
The deceased, Kusuma Rani Singla, was from Punjab. She had been working with IBM in Noida, near Delhi, and had shifted to the Whitefield office six months ago. She had taken an apartment on the fourth floor of Mahaveer Kings Place in Belthur, which she was sharing with her friend Nidhi Sharma.
The murder came to light when Nidhi returned home from work around 7.30 p.m. She found Kusuma’s body on the floor. She was bleeding from the nose and mouth. Nidhi frantically shouted for help drawing the attention of neighbours. The Kadugodi police were informed.
Investigations revealed that valuables were not missing and the house was not ransacked.
Preliminary enquiries revealed that Kusuma had a visitor around 12.30 p.m. Around 1 p.m., Kusuma came down to the entrance and took the visitor to her flat. The security guard told the police that the visitor left the apartment around 3 p.m.
A senior police officer said, “The visitor waited for her at the gate. Kusuma came down from her flat speaking on the phone. She took him to the security cabin and made him enter his details before leading him inside the building.”
This visitor is the suspect. Police have obtained CCTV footage to ascertain the identity of the visitor.
The police found a few strands of hair, suspected to be that of the visitor. They have been sent to the FSL, along with finger prints, for analysis. The police have formed three teams to probe the case. The security guards, neighbours and friends have been questioned to gather details about the victim, said M.B. Boralingaiah, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south east). A senior police officer said, “We are collecting details about Kusuma and analysing the data in her mobile phone and laptop. We are planning to send a team to Punjab to question her ex-husband and his family.”
