Antara murder case: Police probe possible link with unidentified body found hanging

“We are not yet linking the two cases, but we are certainly intrigued by the location of the body just a few hours after Antara’s murder. The body was found a few kilometres away. Once the identity of the dead body is confirmed, we will have to probe deeper,” said an official connected with the probe.

Meanwhile, the Local Crime Branch, which is trying to get a CCTV footage from the office of Santosh Kumar Gupta, who has been arrested in the case, said they were not yet convinced whether he was really in Bengaluru on the day of crime. “First we are trying to get the CCTV footage. And then, we will have to verify the authenticity of the footage. So far, we are not in possession of the CCTV footage and, therefore, do not want to make any claim that Santosh Kumar was in Bengaluru on that day,” said the official.

The police said they called some of his friends and colleagues from Bengaluru for questioning.

“We will find out about his whereabouts on that day and whether he told them anything about Antara,” the official said. The police said they were investigating several angles in the case. “Santosh Kumar has repeatedly denied that he was involved in the case…So far, we haven’t got any strong evidence against him. But nothing can be said at this stage,” said officials.

The Pune rural police said Santosh Kumar was a suspect in the case as he was picked up after the family of Antara alleged that he was stalking her. His police custody ends on January 4 and the police are likely to seek further investigation if they do not find anything concrete by then.