Can responding to a stranger’s message on Facebook end in murder? For Kusum Rani Singla, it did. In 2016, the senior software engineer at IBM was found dead inside her rented apartment in Bengaluru. What followed was a painstaking police hunt through call records, a fake number, and CCTV footage—one that eventually led them 2,000 km away to a small village in Haryana.
A new flatmate found dead
January 19, 2016. Nidhi Sharma, a software professional at Intel, returned to her flat in Mahaveer King Palace located in Brindavan Layout around 7.30 pm. Nidhi had a new flatmate, Kusum, who had responded to her advertisement online three months ago.
When Nidhi entered the apartment, she saw blood. Shocked, she rushed to the security guards downstairs and asked them to check the flat. They confirmed what she feared: Kusum’s body was lying in a pool of blood. The security guards immediately informed the police control room.
Then police inspector of Kadugodi police station, Prashanth MM, was on his routine rounds at the time. The moment he got the information, he rushed to the spot with his team.
“Initially, we questioned Nidhi. She had started staying with Kusum for last 2-3 months but both had not opened up about their personal lives,” a police officer who was part of the investigating team said. “She did not have much information about Kusum’s friends or relatives. During the preliminary stage of the probe, we found that Kusum was divorced. We informed Kusum’s family and started to dig more information about her,” the officer said.
The police learnt that Kusum was from Punjab and used to work in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. Six months before the incident, she was transferred to Bengaluru. “Then DCP (South-East) M B Boralingaiah who was monitoring the case said that Kusum was strangled with a laptop wire and no sharp objects were found. ‘She wanted to get remarried and had registered on a few matrimonial websites’, he told us,” the officer recalled.
The police found that Kusum’s mobile phone was missing and a blood-soaked pair of jeans was thrown near the utility window.
Investigation leads to Haryana
Mahaveer King Palace, with 110 flats, is a gated community. Every guest entry is registered at the gate. Upon checking the register, the police found that a ‘Sukhbeer Singh’ had entered the apartment at 12.20pm. The purpose, he mentioned, was “personal”. The exit time was 3.20 pm. And he had shared a contact number.
“The first thing we did was contact the number. But it was not in use. The call detail records (CDR) and attempts to trace the location did not yield any results. However, there was CCTV footage at the entry and exit and we saw the person’s face. But we could not identify him” the officer said.
Realising that Kusum would have permitted the man to enter the house, the police checked her CDR. “Two hours before the man arrived, several calls were exchanged with a particular number. When we tried to track the number, we found that it was active in a village named Ribad in Palwal district, Haryana,” the officer added.
A team headed by Whitefield Police Inspector Narasimha Murthy headed to Haryana. “We took a flight and informed the local police. We did not divulge much and around 5 am, we raided Sukhbeer’s residence while he was sleeping. We brought him to Bengaluru after completing formalities like getting transit warrant,” a police officer who was part of the team said.
A Facebook message and an arrest
On January 21, 2016, announced the Bengaluru city police announced Sukhbeer Singh’s arrest. The 28-year-old Haryana resident used to work as a software engineer at Yahoo and Accenture in Bengaluru from 2011-2013, the police said. He later shifted to Delhi where he became unemployed. When he was in Bengaluru, a theft case was registered against him at HSR Layout police station, the police learnt.
Sukhbeer, a married man with children, was making efforts to repay his loans. During questioning, the police found out he barely knew Kusum as they had only started talking to each other after January 5. “On December 31 and January 1, 2016, Sukhbeer Singh randomly sent ‘Happy New Year’ messages and friend requests to many women on Facebook. His aim was to find a wealthy woman and to have a relationship with her. He had availed loans after losing his job and he wanted to clear those. One of the messages was sent to Kusum,” a police officer said.
On January 8, 2016, Kusum accepted Singh’s friendship request and responded. The duo started chatting with each other. According to the police, Kusum revealed she was divorced. Sukhbeer allegedly convinced her that he was in love with her and decided to meet her.
On January 19, 2016, Sukhbeer boarded a 3.30 am flight to Bengaluru from Delhi, hailed a cab, and arrived to her flat. “He did not find her attractive to marry or to pursue a relationship. However, he sought her financial help. When Kusum refused, Sukhbeer insisted and when she threatened to scream for help, he took the laptop cable and strangled her,” the court documents and the police officer who was part of the investigation said.
Later, Sukhbeer allegedly removed his blood-soaked pair of jeans and threw it near the window. He allegedly took her mobile phone, ATM cards, cheque books, and a pair of jeans belonging to Nidhi before he left. As Sukhbeer had Kusum’s phone, he used it to change the ATM password, the police said.
According to the police, Sukhbeer went to Forum Value Mall, bought a new pair of jeans and a pair of shoes. He disposed Nidhi’s pants. Around 4.38 pm, he had withdrawn Rs 11,000 from an ICICI bank ATM using Kusum’s card. On the same day, he booked a ticket to Delhi via Mumbai and boarded the flight around 7 pm. He booked the tickets using Kusum’s debit card, the police said.
On January 20, Sukhbeer allegedly withdrew Rs 40,000 from ICICI Bank forging Kusum’s signature. A police officer said that she had clicked a photo of her signature in her mobile phone, and Sukhbeer used this to forge her sign.
When the evidence spoke for itself
As there was no eyewitness, the investigation team had their task cut out for them. “Our job was to establish the chain of circumstances, besides the forensic reports. Starting from 3.30 am on January 19 to January 20 evening, we got recordings of Sukhbeer Singh’s movements. The entry and exit footage of airport, apartment, at ATM kiosk in Bengaluru, the disposed shoes and jeans pant at the mall, the footage of withdrawal of money from bank in Haryana, the flights booked through Cleartrip (return flight where Kusum credentials were used) and many more. The evidence spoke for itself,” a police officer said.
On April 7, 2018, Sukhbeer was granted bail. On May 21 this year, the principal district and sessions court, Bengaluru rural district, convicted Sukhbeer Singh to rigorous imprisonment for life. “Even though it is a case of circumstantial evidence, but the chain of circumstances is established by the prosecution,” judge B S Rekha said in her judgment.
The court also considered the ‘last seen theory’ and testimony of multiple security guards. “Their evidence is so strong that there is no discrepancies in their evidence, which can be brushed aside,” the court said in its order.
Ten years after the crime, when The Indian Express spoke to an investigating officer, he said he clearly remembered details of the case. “Even after 10 years, I still remember that he bought Jealous 21 jeans pant and PUMA shoes at Forum Value Mall,” the police officer added.
“While the murder case was solved and Sukhbeer was convicted, the incident is still relevant. We see a lot of crimes that take place with social media friends. Sending or responding to strangers on social media and meeting them in flats is dangerous. Had Kusum not responded to the Facebook message, had she met him in a public place, she may have been alive today,” the officer added.
According to the police, Sukhbeer Singh randomly sent ‘Happy New Year’ messages and friend requests to many women on Facebook. One of the messages was to Kusum Rani Singla, who replied. 
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