Air hostess’ killer dies by suicide in police lock-up

Vikram Atwal, the cleaner accused of killing an air hostess, died by suicide in police custody. He had been arrested for the murder and was in the lock-up at Andheri police station. The incident came to light when a new guard found Atwal unconscious in a locked bathroom. Atwal had allegedly used his trousers to hang himself. The police are conducting further investigation into the incident. Atwal had confessed to attacking the air hostess during questioning after his arrest.

MUMBAI: Vikram Atwal, the 40-year-old cleaner, arrested for allegedly killing a 24-year-old air hostess in her rented flat in Marol, died by suicide in Andheri police lock-up on Friday morning.

Mumbai, India - Sep 04, 2023 : The Powai police on Monday morning arrested a cleaning staff of a housing society in Marol for allegedly murdering a trainee air hostess living in the building, in Mumbai, India, Monday, Sep 04, 2023. (Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

Atwal was kept in the general lock-up at Andheri police station late in the night on Thursday, after Powai police completed the process of interrogation. The incident came to light on Friday at 8 am after the shift of prison guards.

After he arrived on duty, the new guard checked all the inmates in the lock-up; there were 23 lodged together and one was found missing. He then checked the premises and found the bathroom door locked. He knocked on the door but not getting any response, he forced it open and stepped inside to find him lying unconscious. He had allegedly used his trousers to hang himself.

Atwal was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead before admission, said a senior police officer. The body was then sent to Cooper Hospital for postmortem and his family was informed about the incident. The Andheri police are conducting further probe into the incident.

Atwal was a member of the cleaning staff employed by NG Complex housing society in Marol, where the victim resided with her sister and a friend. She had many run-ins with Atwal in the past over dereliction of duty. She had summoned him to her flat on Sunday to clean a choked pipe in her bathroom. With full knowledge that she was alone at the time, Atwal arrived with a hidden coconut knife with an intent to rape the her, he confessed to the police in the course of questioning after his arrest.

He told the officers, soon after he entered the flat the two got into another verbal spat. He attacked her but in the course of the fight, she had managed to overpower him and even took away his knife. Scared that she might complain which would cost him his job, he wrested the knife from her and slit her throat. He then dragged the blood-soaked body to the bathroom and left the flat.

Meanwhile, in the course of the day, the deceased’s parents had called her several times and on not getting any response, they reached out to her friends. They arrived and assisted by a security guard, broke open the front door to find her lying in a pool of blood inside.

They lodged a complaint at Powai police station. Police formed eight teams to probe the murder and tracked down Atwal to his residence in Tunga village, Andheri. They found him in a blood-stained shirt with visible injury marks over his hands and face, indicating the prior scuffle between him and the deceased. He was a arrested and on September 5 sent to three-day police custody, which ended on September 8.