Zee murders: Series of unending puzzles

NEW DELHI, August 13: The same Delhi Police, which branded Rajiv Rajah a killer and rapist less than 36 hours after his body was found al...

NEW DELHI, August 13: The same Delhi Police, which branded Rajiv Rajah a killer and rapist less than 36 hours after his body was found along with that of his Zee TV colleague Monika Malik in a car eight days ago, today admitted that they will will perhaps never be able to establish whether Rajiv smothered Monika to death. And, with no circumstantial evidence regarding a “third person”, there seems to be no other way of closing the case.

“It would have been otherwise if we could have lifted the fingerprints from Monika’s throat and face,” say officials. “But it is impossible to find fingerprints on a body five to six hours after death.”

Police reveal that the samples of the victims’ clothes, semen, blood and viscera sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) would only reveal the exact time when they died, whether Monika was raped and if there was a third person involved. But he points out that the reports would not establish if Rajiv or even a third person actually killed Monika.Neither will the experts be able to comment on the disappearance of the bottle containing the fatal insecticide.

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What is confirmed so far is that Rajiv and Monika together went to the party at around 10.10 pm. At least five persons, including CRY advisor Vice-Admiral (retd ) A E Johnson saw or met the couple at the party. The police have questioned each of them and have ascertained that Rajiv and Monika left the party around 12.30 am. No third person was seen `accompanying’ them.

What happened thereafter intrigues the police as well as many others. The police suspect that though Monika had spoken to her mother at 12.02 am from her cellphone to say that she would be returning within an hour, the couple might have changed their minds. Why? And where did they go?

Monika’s family discloses that her cellphone was switched off after 1.30 am that night. There was no response to phone calls. Monika’s brother says, “The last time, Monika communicated with her mother was at 12:30 am when she said that she wouldbe back in half-an-hour to an hour’s time.”

Today the police claim to have seized Monika’s appointment diary from her room in her Raja Garden house this morning. Though the diary has an entry stating that “she would be leaving on August 8” there is no mention of where the object or the place of her trip.

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The rest, as they say, is silence, for now, hopefully.

The questions that intrigue the police

Did Rajiv and Monika drive into the Rajah garage or were they brought there by a third person? Who was the last person to talk to Monika and Rajiv after they left the Taj Palace party ? What transpired among them ?

Who removed the container of the insecticide consumed by the victim from the garage or the car in the morning ?

Did someone else contact them leading to a change in their plans ?

How were their cellphones put off between 12.45 am and 8 am, the period during which both their families tried to contact them ?

How was the memory of Rajiv’s mobile phone wipedoff?

Though the EC’s media invitation did not specify the subject, officials said the briefing would pertain to the SIR schedule. (File)

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