IIT scholar held for murder of Naga girl in Delhi

A teenaged Naga girl was strangled and later burnt to death in South Delhi on Sunday night, allegedly by an IIT scholar who attempted to rape her, the police said on Monday.

The incident was reported from Munirka late on Sunday night by the sister of the victim, Ramchanphy Hongray, 19, after she came back from work, a senior police official said.

Pushpam Kumar Sinha, 34, who is working on his Phd from IIT, Delhi, has been arrested in connection with the attempted rape and murder of Hongray.

The girl had come to the capital a month ago and was staying with her sister, who is working in a hotel at Connaught Place.

The victim and her sister were staying in the second floor of a building in Munirka, while the accused, who had befriended Hongray, was staying in the first floor of the same building, the official said.

Last night, Sinha, who hails from Patna in Bihar, went to her place and allegedly attempted to rape her.

"When she resisted, he strangled her and later burned her using the gas stove in her house," the official said.

Hongray's body was found in the Vasant Vihar area in New Delhi on Sunday by her neighbours who alerted the police.

A case has been registered in connection with the crime, the official said.

"A very vulgar kind of red grafitti was found on the wall of his room and he wrote many things," Dhaliwal said, adding it took around four hours of interrogation to make him confess to the crime.

"During interrogation, he made an alibi where he was and what music he was listening to and all. He also gave a sequence of events, which included that of him playing with the children of neighbours. He had everything planned in his mind," he said.

Sinha told police he was afraid that he may be arrested by police if the girl was alive. After making sure that she died, he allegedly burnt her, the officer said, adding her face, hair and upper torso suffered burn injuries.

However, post mortem report said the victim was not raped.

Sinha had made acquaintance with the girl during the diwali celebrations but it had not developed into an intimate relationship.

"He was living next door and used to greet each other; nothing more than that. Advances were totally from Sinha's side," Dhaliwal said.

According to her sister, who works in a restaurant in Connaught Place, Sinha had allegedly passed lewd comments and shown gestures which were like "a little bit of stalking".

His diaries and files in laptop suggested that he was "very sad" because he could not marry. "He had bought many gifts for girls like watches and teddy bear," Dhaliwal said.

"There are some records about some kind of academic misconduct also which we are checking," the officer said.

Sinha's personal diary suggested that he was in dock for some kind of "misconduct" with (some) girls, a senior police official said.

"Sinha has a great complex. He was not been able to propose to any girl," Dhaliwal said.

The teenaged girl had come to the capital a month ago and was staying with her sister.