Techie held for murder, extortion

A regular Facebook status update turned him into a psychopath killer. Bikramjeet Singh, in his late 20s and working as engineer with a Gurgaon-based IT giant, was a happy man until his breakup last year. He was arrested for murder and extortion on Wednesday.

A regular Facebook status update turned him into a psychopath killer. Bikramjeet Singh, in his late 20s and working as engineer with a Gurgaon-based IT giant, was a happy man until his breakup last year. He was arrested for murder and extortion on Wednesday.

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Ashok Chand, deputy commissioner of police (crime) said Singh had killed a woman just to get his hands on her mobile phone and subsequently made extortion calls to a businessman residing in his locality in west Delhi’s Paschim Vihar to raise enough money to buy a weapon to eliminate his ex-girlfriend’s fiancé.

“His life changed drastically when his girlfriend left him for another man who had a better salary package than his. This was enough to shatter Singh, who had been dating her for nearly eight months,” the DCP said.

Police said Singh, an electronics engineer from IP University, had a cushy job, a swanky car and a girlfriend, who also was his colleague before his world came crashing down last year. “Singh broke up with his girlfriend around eight months ago and one day saw her relationship status changed to ‘engaged’ on Facebook. Life became difficult for him. Colleagues at work started ridiculing him and he slipped into depression with thriller stories becoming his new companions,” said a senior police officer.

When his attempts of getting his hands on a mobile phone, procured through a fake identity, to make extortion calls failed, Singh thought of stealing a mobile. “He zeroed in on a woman whom he, along with his friend, had visited in Burari in 2008. He again visited her house and robbed her of her mobile phone. Then, fearing that she would expose him, he killed her.”

Singh, police said, made extortion calls to a businessman who stays in his locality. The businessman had filed a complaint with police, saying that he had been receiving extortion calls. The extortionist, according to the businessman’s complaint, was demanding R15 lakh. Police said Singh was nabbed when the said amount exchanged hands at the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara on July 13.