Chandigarh: Auto driver nabbed for 60-yr-old’s rape now prime suspect in two cold rape-murder cases
Forensic probe into the two cases had revealed that the 22-year-old MBA student, who was raped and murdered in Sector 38 West in 2010, a 40-year-old woman who met the same fate in Maloya in 2022, were murdered by the same man
The 48-year-old auto-rickshaw driver held for gangraping a 60-year-old woman in Kaimbwala, along with his accomplice, in broad daylight on July 3, is now the prime suspect in two sensational rape and murder cases that occurred 12 years apart and shook the city.
Forensic probe into the two cases had revealed that the 22-year-old MBA student, who was raped and murdered in Sector 38 West in 2010, a 40-year-old woman who met the same fate in Maloya in 2022, were murdered by the same man.
The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) had come to the conclusion, intimated to Chandigarh Police, after DNA testing of semen taken from bodies of both victims.
Now, UT police plan to make the accused in the July 3 case, identified as Arvind Kumar, undergo DNA test to establish if he is the mystery killer who has eluded arrest for 13 years.
In the 2010 rape-murder case, police have already filed an untraced report in a local court, citing that all their efforts to arrest the accused went in vain.
Remand sought from court
Police, seeking remand of the accused on Thursday, informed the court that the modus operandi in the current rape case was similar to that in the Maloya and Sector 38 West cases.
“Since the accused in all three cases followed the same pattern, we will conduct DNA test of Arvind Kumar to ascertain if he is the killer in the previous two cases,” a senior police officer from the Sector 3 police station told the court.
The accused, Arvind, a native of Uttar Pradesh (UP), currently residing in Kaimbwala, is the father of three children, including a married daughter.
Police said in the present case, Arvind, along with his 25-year-old accomplice Agwesh, also hailing from UP, had left the victim to die in the middle of forest area in Kaimbwala after raping and assaulting her, but she survived the ordeal.
The victim, according to police, had hailed Arvind’s auto-rickshaw in Kaimbwala to reach Saketri temple. But the accused took her to a different religious place. When confronted by the victim, they took her to a nearby forest area and gangraped her.
The victim managed to reach home later in the evening, following which her family alerted the Police Control Room. She was rushed to GMSH, Sector 16, where the sexual assault was confirmed by doctors.
The victim’s statement that the auto-rickshaw driver did not have a toe led police to Arvind, who was arrested on July 4. He was identified by the woman. “The victim is stable and has been discharged,” a cop said.
Arvind misled cops about co-accused
Police informed the court that Arvind earlier misled investigators by claiming that his co-accused Agwesh was a resident of Ghaziabad. “He eventually revealed that Agwesh is from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh and thus court granted two-day remand of Arvind on Thursday to locate his accomplice. Our teams are raiding all possible hideouts,” a senior police officer said.
Earlier, the court on Wednesday had sent the accused to one-day police custody that ended on Thursday.
Auto in the name of accused’s wife
Police probe has found that the auto involved in the crime is in the name of Arvind’s wife.
According to sources, the vehicle has been challaned eight times — for four traffic light and four zebra crossing violations.
Both the accused have been booked under Sections 376-D (gang rape), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sector 3 police station.
