Delhi murder: Cop used software to stitch together colleague’s voice notes

Rana also used photo editing apps to edit Yadav’s photo by adding a man who was passed off as the man she had eloped with

Surender Singh Rana, the Delhi Police head constable arrested last week for allegedly killing a former colleague two years ago, transferred to his phone the recordings of the calls the woman made to her family ever since they first met on duty in 2018, investigators part of the case said on Monday.

Surender Singh Rana was arrested on Friday last week, for strangling the former 27-year-old Delhi Police constable on September 8, 2021 in outer Delhi’s Alipur after she had spurned his romantic advances. (Representational image)

In the days and weeks following Monika Yadav’s murder, Rana, 42, allegedly used a sound editing software to stitch together different words and sentences spoken by her on various occasions to prepare audio conversations that convinced her family for more than a year to believe she was alive, said a senior police investigator on condition of anonymity.

“Yadav’s conversations would be recorded on her phone, and Rana would steal those recordings. He hasn’t mentioned any specific reason why did that,” said the investigator.

Rana, a married man, was arrested on Friday last week, for strangling the former 27-year-old Delhi Police constable on September 8, 2021 in outer Delhi’s Alipur after she had spurned his romantic advances and had threatened to expose his behaviour, police said. He had buried her body in a marshy swamp.

Following the murder, Rana allegedly took her phone and stole all other audio recordings of her speaking to her family. When her family began searching for her after the disappearance, Rana allegedly asked his brother-in-law, Ravin, to call her family using WhatsApp through a fake SIM card, pretend to be Yadav’s partner and claim that they had eloped.

“When Yadav’s family would ask to be allowed to speak to her, Rana would ask Ravin to put his phone on speaker and play her audio clips on another device,” said the investigator.

Rana also used other photo editing applications to edit Yadav’s photo by adding a man who was passed off as the man she had eloped with, arranged her fake Covid-19 vaccination certificate, and regularly withdrew cash from her account, police said.

His elaborate plan also allegedly included Ravin being accompanied by woman to hotels and restaurants in Haryana and Punjab from where he would call Yadav’s family.

On Monday, the crime branch visited some of those locations in Haryana, and identified two sites, including “an eatery in In Rohtak, where Ravin visited with a woman,” said Sanjay Bhatia, deputy commissioner of police.

Ravin got the fake SIM card through his colleague at his stationary shop, Rajpal. On Monday, police also found the shopkeeper who issued the SIM card to Rajpal. Both Ravin and Rajpal were arrested over the weekend.

“We are building a watertight case to ensure the strictest punishment to Rana and his associates,” said the special commissioner.