Rape, murder in Mumbai hostel: Watchman has been harassing the girl repeatedly, friends family tell police

Police said that they were investigating a claim by the family that at one instance the watchman forced into the girl’s room at odd hours in the morning, as a friend of the girl  in the hostel also confirmed about the incident.

“She was sleeping in her room on the fourth floor when the accused went and started knocking on her door rigorously… It was 5am and she was too sleepy when she opened the door. Before she could understand anything, the watchman was inside her room,” a senior IPS officer said.

The victim is said to have told her friend that Kanojia insisted that he be allowed to stay in her room and watch her sleep. “The girl was shocked and asked him to leave. But he kept insisting… He left after the girl pushed him out of the room and yelled at him,” the officer said.

When the hotel staff were looking for the girl Tuesday, the friend alerted them about the incident, police said. They started looking for Kanojia after the girl’s naked body was discovered in her room.

“My daughter had told me that she had discussed the harassment with her friend and they even went and complained to her warden but sadly no action was taken against him. Had taken some action, my daughter would have been alive,” said the 53-year-old father, demanding action against the warden and the superintendent of the hostel.

When The Indian Express reached out to hostel superintendent Varsha Andhare, she denied the allegation and said, “Nobody lodged any complaint against him. If I had received any complaint then I would have taken strict action against him.”

During the preliminary investigation, police also learnt that the accused Kanojia would often get “over friendly” with the girls in the hostel. “Due to this, many girls avoided him but he would still try to strike a conversation with them,” said an officer.

According to police, Kanojia was working in the hostel since 2003. “The hostel authorities said that they had followed due procedure before recruiting him. His brother who was also working in the same hostel left for Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh recently to meet his family.”

Initially the family of the girl had tried to reach Kanojia when they could not connect with her on the fateful night. “Initially we reached out to Kanojia, as my father had met him before. As he was also not answering, he contacted her friend… then they started looking for her. Her dead body was found inside the room at around 4pm,” said her brother.

The accused had locked the door of her room from outside before leaving the premises.

An officer said, “When we started looking for him, we came to know that he ended his life… When we checked his clothes, we found the keys of her room in his pocket… he had locked her room before escaping.”

The Marine Drive police who registered a case of rape and murder against Kanojia said that they have started recording statements of the relatives of the deceased, other residents of the hostel as well as staffers.

“We have so far recorded statements of around eight individuals. We will initially have to prove that the accused has committed the crime before killing himself after which we will conclude the investigation of the case and inform the court as the accused is no more,” said a senior police officer.