St Stephen’s murder: Is suspect changing guise to fool cops?

Evidence suggested that the killing was the handiwork of his colleague and bitter rival, Dr Suyash Gupta, who has been absconding ever since the murder.

Almost a month after a trainee doctor of St Stephen’s Hospital was murdered, allegedly by his colleague, the police are seeking help of experts to prepare photographs of the new looks the suspect might be donning at the moment to evade arrest.

Dr Suyash Gupta, who has been absconding ever since the murder.

Doctor Shashwat Pande was murdered inside his rest room in the hospital premises in the early hours of August 24. Evidence suggested that the killing was the handiwork of his colleague and bitter rival, Dr Suyash Gupta, who has been absconding ever since the murder.

“We have conducted raids in around a dozen places in states such as Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. These are the places he has friends or family in or has studied,” said Jatin Narwal, DCP (north).

Investigations have suggested that Gupta is changing his looks frequently to evade arrest. “We have reasons to believe that he is sporting a moustache and beard and prentending to be a Sikh man in order to avoid being identified. So, we have taken the help of experts to prepare sketches about his various guises,” said Narwal.

Police are also seeking help from software experts to get clues about Gupta’s online activities. Gupta has been learnt to be addicted to PlayStation gaming and sometimes stayed indoors playing games for as long as 10 consecutive days, said the officer.

A reward of Rs 50,000 has also been announced for anyone who could provide information leading to Gupta’s arrest. Though a Facebook post by Gupta after the murder suggested he left India, police have claimed that he is still hiding in the country. “We have frozen his bank accounts and taken steps to ensure he does not leave the country,” said the DCP.

Since Gupta had withdrawn a few lakh rupees immediately after the murder, police are hoping he will exhaust the money soon and the subsequent desperation will lead him to leaving clues of his whereabouts.

POSSIBLE DISGUISES OF SUYASH GUPTA