Week after woman techie died in Bengaluru apartment fire, teenage neighbour arrested for murder

The police registered a First Information Report (FIR) after the woman’s flatmate complained of foul play. The body was sent for a post-mortem examination as per procedure. The post-mortem suggested that the woman had died due to suffocation, but there were also some fresh minor injuries on her body.

Meanwhile, the police probe also ruled out a short circuit as the cause of the fire.

“We found that there was an arson, and we then started to check the burnt belongings in the house. What we could not find was the woman’s mobile phone, even though it was burnt. Going through the technical evidence, we found the teenage boy was using the same mobile phone,” a police officer said

“After we took the suspect into custody, he confessed to his crime. He told us that he entered the flat around 9 pm on January 3, as he was aware that her flatmate had gone to her home state. He managed to enter through the sliding window and demanded sexual favours from the woman. When she resisted, the suspect tightly held her mouth, and the victim became unconscious,” the officer said.

“The teenager then went to the other room, gathered some clothes and other incriminating evidence, set them on fire, and fled with the mobile phone of the victim,” the officer added.

The accused has been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 103(1) (murder), 64(2) (rape), 66 (causing death in vegetative state), and 238 (destroying evidence).