‘Humble, wanted to make parents proud’: Kin recall UPSC aspirant raped, murdered in Delhi

The 22-year-old wanted to become a civil servant, just like her father, and her family believed she would clear the examinations on her first attempt.

“You have been sitting in dad’s official car with a red beacon. You will soon sit in mine,” the woman who was allegedly raped and murdered by a former domestic help in Kailash Hills had once said, her aunt recalled on Wednesday. The 22-year-old wanted to become a civil servant, just like her father, and her family believed she would clear the hard-to-crack examinations, scheduled in May, on her first attempt.

Delhi Police officials and forensic team members are seen at a residence in Kailash Hills, Amar Colony area, in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times)

“She was so full of life. She just wanted to make her parents proud,” the aunt said, describing the 22-year-old with tears in her eyes.

The woman is survived by her father, a 55-year-old civil servant; her mother, a dentist; and her 25-year-old brother who has a Master’s in Business Administration and is currently working in Mumbai.

The incident on Wednesday, the victim’s father said in his complaint to police, was their worst fears come true. Her parents spent most of the day in the hospital for post mortem proceedings and declined to talk to the media.

Woman murdered days before birthday

Her brother got engaged a few months ago. “She was so happy for the engagement and they were all waiting for her exam to end in May so they could start preparing for the wedding,” the aunt said.

“It was also her birthday on May 3,” she added.

Exceptionally “good in studies”, she had attended a well-recognised school in south Delhi, going on to complete an engineering degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

For the last one year, she had been studying for the UPSC exams due on May 24.

“We all knew she’ll be able to crack her UPSC examination in the first attempt only,” said the aunt.

She was also a very good dance and helped every cousin who needed assistance with studies or required any guidance, she added. “My own daughter is also preparing for her competitive exams to pursue medicine. She used to guide and help her too.”

‘Down to earth, full of humility’

A neighbour, who is closed to the family and also a tenant, said that the 22-year-old attended the same school as her granddaughter. “She was so down to earth and full of humility. In fact, even her father has no air about his position. She and my granddaughter went to France together for an exchange programme when they were in school,” the tenant said.

According to the tenant, in her 70s, the family owns at least two third-floor flats on the same street in Kailash Hills — one where they are currently residing and another one, where she stays, that they have rented out.

Parents' shocking discovery

On Wednesday, the parents told police they found their daughter on the floor of their bedroom — one level below her own room — naked and bleeding from the head and with injuries to her face, a phone charger cable wound around her neck. They dressed her, wrapped her in a bedsheet and drove her to Fortis Escorts Heart Institute in Sukhdev Vihar, where she was declared dead on arrival.

A postmortem conducted later on Wednesday confirmed she had been sexually assaulted; strangulation was established as the cause of death. The body was subsequently handed over to the family for last rites.

Police later added that the suspect, Rahul Meena, he had been caught from a hotel in Dwarka.