Snubbed colleague held for software engineer’s murder

After the murder,Jabal left his car at Hingoli and travelled to Hyderabad,Bhopal,Delhi,Jaipur and other places by train before returning to Pune on Sunday,said DCP (Zone III) Mahesh Patil.

After reaching home,Jabal told his family that some gangsters had kidnapped him and Shraddha and had taken them to Hingoli in his car,where they raped and murdered Shraddha and that he had managed to escape and reach Pune by train.

His father took him to Chatushrungi police station to lodge the complaint.

Jabal gave the same details,but the suspicions of the police were aroused when he could not explain some missing links.

ACP Maruti Karade said Jabal did not give satisfactory answers to some questions. “On interrogating him,he confessed to committing the murder,” Karade said. Jabal reportedly said he assaulted Shraddha at the parking lot of his firm,Symantec Company,on July 28,causing death. He dumped the body at a field at Vasmat in Hingoli district,police said.

Patil said,“Jabal told us that reached office in the morning of July 28. Shraddha reached at 8.15 am. He approached Shraddha saying he will teach her driving. Both went to the parking lot where he had parked his car. There,he assaulted her with a hard object causing her death. We are trying to verify his statements.”

“CCTV cameras installed at the parking lot have not recorded any incident of assault,” Patil added.

Police suspect that he may have raped her,but are waiting for the medical reports to confirm it.

DCP Patil said,“Jabal was attracted to Shraddha. She considered him a friend,but did not like certain habits of his. Jabal told us he murdered Shradhha out of anger. Investigation is on.”

Senior police inspector Mahadev Chavan said Jabal has an MBA degree from a reputed college in Pune.

“He has been a software quality analyst with Symantec for the last three years. Shraddha was a software engineer in Jabal’s department,” Chavan said.

Jabal would be handed over Vasmat police in Hingoli for investigations.

Police said Jabal is a native of Nagpur. His father is a retired BSNL officer. Shraddha,the daughter of a chartered accountant,was from Dhule.

Shraddha was residing at a hostel in Deccan Gymkhana area.

On July 29,her cousin Prathamesh Ghanshyam Navlakha,staying at Model Colony,had filed a missing persons report at Chatushrungi police station. Jabal’s father too had apparently reached the same police station to report about his son going missing. While the police were trying to find where the duo were,Vasmat police found the body.

He returned without turban or beard

Jabal,a Sikh,sports a beard and a turban. Police said he was in love with Shraddha,but started hating her as she did not reciprocate. “When Jabal left home,he was sporting a turban. But when he returned on Sunday,there was no turban or beard,” said Chavan. Police suspect that he removed his turban and shaved his beard after the murder.