18-yr-old killed in Marine Drive hostel; suspect too jumps on track
Police surmise that the woman, found naked in her room, had been sexually assaulted before she was killed. Within an hour of her body being discovered, the hostel watchman, Prakash Kanojia,33, was found to be absconding
MUMBAI: An 18-year-old student who had come to Mumbai to study at a polytechnic college in the western suburbs, was found dead in her hostel room at the Savitri Devi Phule Mahila Chhatralaya at Marine Drive on Tuesday evening.
Police surmise that the woman, found naked in her room, had been sexually assaulted before she was killed. Within an hour of her body being discovered, the hostel watchman, Prakash Kanojia,33, was found to be absconding and shortly afterwards it was discovered that he had jumped before an oncoming train between Charni Road and Marine Lines stations and was killed instantly.
The woman had come from Akola and she was pursuing a diploma in computer engineering in Mumbai. Police say she was last seen by her hostel mates at 11.30 pm on Monday night, and the following morning the door of her room on the hostel’s fourth floor was found locked. However, there was no entry of her leaving the hostel in the register nor was she answering any calls which is when the hostel authorities called the police and they entered the room. “She was found lying unclothed on the floor except for a dupatta tied around her neck,” said Abhinav Deshmukh, additional commissioner of police, South Region.
The police started their investigation with a headcount of all hostel inmates and staff and found that the security guard was missing. “He had left the hostel at around 5 am on Tuesday morning. Before leaving, he left his phone behind at the hostel,” said Deshmukh.
“Our teams fanned out across various railway stations and bus stands and when one of the teams went to Churchgate station to check CCTV cameras, they were told about a body found between Marine Lines and Charni Road stations. Our teams went to G T Hospital with the hostel staff who identified it to be Kanojia’s body,” said Deshmukh.
The police said that Kanojia, 33, belonged to Uttar Pradesh and his father had also worked at the same hostel for nearly 20 years after which he got the job.
The woman’s body has been sent to Sir JJ Hospital for post-mortem though prima facie, police say, it appears that she was strangulated. Her family is expected to reach Mumbai on Thursday.
The Marine Drive police have registered a rape and murder case against Kanojia whose time of death was recorded around 8 am, and are awaiting both his and the woman’s the post-mortem reports. The Churchgate Railway Police in the meanwhile has registered an accidental death report (ADR) in connection with Kanojia’s death.
“Possibly he felt guilty after the sexual assault and the murder. We are also checking his phone to see if we can get any more information,” said Balasaheb Thorat, senior police inspector of Churchgate Government Railway Police.