Monika’s appointment diary seized

Monika’s cellphone and the ornaments that she was wearing when she died had been seized by the police earlier. Though the calls made on the cellphone might prove vital to the investigation, police have not seized Rajiv’s cellphone or his car. When Express Newsline visted the Rajah family, they were shown Rajiv’s cellphone and told that all the numbers in the memory had been erased. According to a family member, “I checked Rajiv’s cellphone the morning we found them lying dead in the car. However, all the numbers had been erased.”

Phone conversations involving Rajiv or Monika a few hours before their death are crucial to investigations: Who was the last person to talk to Monika and Rajiv after they left the Taj Palace party? Did someone else contact them leading to a change in their plans? Who put their cellphones off between 12.45 am and 8 am, the period during which both their families tried to contact them but failed.

The phone calls become even more important as Monika called her mother around 12.30 am and confirmed that she would be home in half an hour thus implying that nothing had gone wrong till then. Whatever happened to the couple that led to their death happened between 12.30 am and morning?

Police have cut a piece from the seat cover of the Maruti Esteem where the two had vomited and sent it for examination. Ashok Rajah, Rajiv’s father, told Express Newsline: “The police have asked me to start using the Maruti Esteem. They say the car is not important for the investigation. However, I have not taken the car out yet.”

Instead, Ashok Rajah makes regular trips to the garage to show the car to eager mediapersons who continue to throng his house. “Every reporter wants to see the car. I take them to the garage. But nothing ever comes out of it,” he said.