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Woman techie shot dead inside hotel room near Pune, suspect friend arrested
The deceased, identified as Vandana Dwivedi – a native of Lucknow, was working with Infosys, located at Rajiv Gandhi IT Park, Hinjewadi, for the past two years.
A 26-year-old software engineer was shot dead allegedly by her male friend inside a hotel room in the Laxminagar area, Hinjewadi, on Saturday.
The deceased has been identified as Vandana Dwivedi, a native of Lucknow, who was working with Infosys, located at Rajiv Gandhi Information Technology Park, Hinjewadi, for the past two years.
Officials said the incident occurred in room number 306 at a private hotel, on Saturday, at around 9:45 pm although police got to know about the incident the next day.
During a nakabandi on Sunday, Navi Mumbai police arrested the suspect Rishabh Nigam, also a native of Lucknow, along with a pistol.
During the preliminary interrogation, Nigam revealed about the murder he committed. By evening, he was handed over to the crime branch team of the Pimpri-Chinchwad police.
Both Dwivedi and Nigam stayed in the same locality in Lucknow before she moved to Pune for work.
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Prima facie both Dwivedi and Nigam have known each other since 2014 and have been in a relationship for some time, said police.
Recently, Nigam suspected that Dwivedi was ignoring him, and as a result, he might have killed her. However, the police said after custodial interrogation, they will ascertain the exact motive behind the murder.
Hinjewadi police said after arriving from Lucknow, Nigam booked a room at the hotel on January 25. The next day (Friday), Dwivedi joined him. There were exchanges of heated arguments between them on Saturday night, as a result of which the accused fired two rounds of bullet into Dwivedi’s chest and head, leading to her death.
“Our team found the body of the victim with bullet injuries in room number 306,” said Vishal Hire, assistant commissioner of police.
Hire further said, that after the analysis of the hotel’s register, it was found that both victim and suspect had their booking from January 25 at around 9:30 pm, although the former arrived at the hotel a day later and the accused left the hotel Saturday between 9:30 pm and 10 pm.
Bapu Bangar, deputy commissioner of police (zone II), said, “Dwivedi had been working as a software engineer at Infosys, Hinjewadi, since 2022, while the suspect stays in Lucknow. Preliminary information suggests there may have been some disputes between them due to which the accused killed Dwivedi.”
As loud music was played and people were bursting firecrackers due to the decision taken on the Maratha reservation, the hotel staff did not notice the firing sound.
“Hotel staffers heard the firing sound, but considering the noise from firecrackers outside the hotel, they ignored it,” said Bangar.
A case was registered at Hinjewadi poliec station on Sunday under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
