Achieved lot,only girlfriends missing: from diary of IITian murder-accused

It was a search of Sinha’s one-room apartment on the second floor of A-80,Munirka village,that led police to suspect he was a “maniac”,and get on to his trail. Investigators later went through his diary and laptop.

“The graffiti on the walls of his room indicated that he was a pervert and a maniac,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (South),HGS Dhaliwal said. “He had a complex. During searches at Sinha’s room,it came to light that he was suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder. A very vulgar kind of red graffiti was found on a wall of his room.”

Officers close to the investigations said the graffiti mentioned Ramchanphy. “This is the time to make girlfriends. I am finally making one,” Sinha allegedly wrote.

An entry in Sinha’s diary read,“I have got a lot of things in my life and I have achieved a lot. This is the only thing lacking in my life (girlfriends). This is my age of making girlfriends and yet I have not been able to.”

Dhaliwal said the material in the diary and laptop suggests Sinha had invested a lot in trying to befriend women,and was “very sad” that he had not been successful and had been unable to get married. “He had bought many gifts for girls like watches and teddy bear,” Dhaliwal said.

The diary mentioned several women of Sinha’s acquaintance,from his colleges and elsewhere,police said. There was a reference to some sort of misconduct on his part,following which some girls appeared to have complained against him to the authorities. These incidents were being crosschecked,Dhaliwal said.

The laptop had some pornographic material,sources in the police said.

To his professors at IIT,however,Sinha was a “brilliant student”,whom they would never expect to commit murder.

Professor Shashi Mathur,Dean of Students,IIT,said,“He was a brilliant student. I think he even secured the first rank in his B.Tech class of 80 students back in Allahabad.”

After doing his B.Tech from Regional Engineering College,Allahabad,in 2001,Sinha got admission into the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore in 2002. After completing his M.Sc in chemical engineering,he joined IIT-Delhi in 2008 as a research scholar in the Department of Applied Mechanics. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D in wave mechanics,drawing a scholarship of Rs 14,000 per month.

Prof. Mathur said officials and faculty at IIT have been in a state of shock since the arrest. The management of the institute has been calling up Sinha’s former institutes for his background,and would cooperate with the police in the investigations.

To his neighbours,Sinha was a “childish person” who loved children,and whose best friends were children.

Housewife Lavanya Rao,who stays on the same floor as the accused,recalled Sinha’s “childlike” activities.

“He was so much like a child. He would sit on the floor outside and have biscuits. He talked like a child and laughed a lot. His best friends in the area were children. Children loved him because he often played with them,” said Rao.

Krishan Tokas,who has a shop beneath Sinha’s apartment,said,“There was something about him that was very childish. I think he was a little mentally unstable. I would never have suspected he could do such a thing.”

Sinha,whose father,a retired Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) engineer,and mother,a senior doctor who retired from a government hospital,are settled in Patna,allegedly tried to force himself on Ramchanphy while she was in the kitchen on Saturday afternoon.

The girl,who arrived in Delhi from Mumbai to visit her sister a month ago,had earlier complained of being “stalked” by Sinha. The kitchen is outside the apartment rented by her sister,Timila,a few feet from Sinha room across the corridor. Timila was then at work.

Sinha allegedly strangled Ramchanphy when she struggled,and later shoved her face in the gas stove. The girl’s clothes caught fire,and her face,chest and hair were burnt.

Following the news of Sinha’s arrest,his parents locked themselves inside their apartment on Patna’s Boring Road,and did not entertain visitors. A security guard at the building said: “Sinhaji has told me not to send anyone up to his flat.”

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP),Patna,Vinit Vinayak told The Indian Express: “Delhi Police has not yet contacted us regarding the case. We can question any member of the family only after our Delhi counterparts request us to do so.”

There are no cases against Sinha in Patna or anywhere else in Bihar,police said.