Family of IAS aspirant who died at Gurugram guest house alleges murder, hunt on for suspect

Police said they were yet to trace the accused, who was booked for murder on the complaint of the IAS aspirant’s father.

Mystery continues to shroud the death of 23-year-old woman IAS aspirant Priyanka even as her family on Wednesday alleged she was murdered.

Gurugram, India- July 24, 2018: A file photo of a 23-year-old woman, who was preparing for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), died nearly four hours after she checked into a guest house facility in Sector 46 on Monday evening with a man known to her. (HT Photo) (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Officials said a case containing 12 beer bottles was recovered from the guest house in Sector 46, where the victim and her male acquaintance, Ravinder Yadav, stayed on Monday.

A guest house official, requesting anonymity, said the victim and her male acquaintance reached the guest house separately, with the victim arriving first at 8.30pm and Yadav, a little later.

“An order for some light food, salad and peanuts was placed. Twelve beer bottles were recovered from the room by the police, including three that had been emptied. Some shards of broken glass was on the floor,” said the official, adding that guest house was not aware of any incident till the following morning.

Police said they were yet to trace the accused, who was booked for murder on the complaint of victim’s father, Prem Chand.

“Our crime team is trying to trace the accused. The accused allegedly took two mobile phones belonging to the victim. Since the mobile phones were switched off, we could not trace his location. His scooter, bearing Haryana registration, on which he had come to the guest house, has been impounded,” said Phogat.

Phogat, who is now the investigating officer in the case, said around midnight, the accused attempted to take the unconscious woman to a hospital on his scooter. “A guest, who was staying at the guest house with his wife and mother-in-law, offered help and dropped them at the hospital in his car,” the SHO said.

Prem Chand, the victim’s father, said that he had warned the accused, who lives nearly 150 metres from the victim’s house, a few weeks earlier, to stay away from his daughter.

Alleging police inaction, Chand said, “Her body had some rashes near the abdomen. The police should arrest him at the earliest.”