No leads in serial stalker8217; case

NEW DELHI, June 28: Well over six months after the last of the infamous serial stalker' attacks in Vasant Kunj, police are still in the dar...

NEW DELHI, June 28: Well over six months after the last of the infamous serial stalker8217; attacks in Vasant Kunj, police are still in the dark about the identity of the attacker.

Having constructed a photofit likeness of the criminal, police are now going through the electoral rolls of the area to match the likeness of the suspect. 8220;I haven8217;t yet had time to go through this case in detail, but as a first step I have asked the area police to go through electoral rolls of the area to try and find a person who resembles the picture that we have built up,8221; says DCP South West P K Bhardwaj, who has just taken charge of the district.

The serial stalker8217; had caused panic in parts of Vasant Kunj late last year after a series of gruesome and violent attacks on women. Between March last year to January this year police have attributed a total of five attacks to the stalker said to have been around 25 years of age. After attacking the women with a sariya or an iron rod, he would escape withcash.

Probably the most high profile of the attacks was the one on a TV producer Shivani Jajodia in November last year. She was attacked violently as she entered her flat late in the night. She sustained serious head injuries and died a couple of days later. This was the only case where the victim eventually died.

The Shivani Jajodia case is also the only one which is being investigated by the Crime Branch. The other four are being investigated by the local police. Any reasons that the case should be singled out this way? 8220;There is no specific reason,8221; said DCP Crime Karnal Singh. 8220;This is one case which is high profile and which we had been called in to investigate. But rather than take up the other cases also it was felt that the district police should tackle them since they are in a better position to do so.8221;

Ironically, the Jajodia case, which has come to symbolise the stalker menace, was initially thought to be the handiwork of someone known to her, thus implying that this was not one of thestalker attacks. Police wanted to run lie detector tests on persons close to her, but when the case was handed over to the Crime Branch they clubbed it along with the other cases. 8220;Much has been made of the odd behaviour of certain persons in the hours immediately following the murder, but that in itself is not sufficient to establish guilt,8221; said Karnal Singh. 8220;In a crisis, you cannot tell how a person will react.8221; Lead after lead taken up by the police has petered out.