Chandigarh Police collected semen samples of 15 prime suspects to track serial killer

Six months since the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) pointed at the involvement of the same man in the eerily similar murders of two women that occurred 12 years apart, police have collected semen samples of 15 prime suspects in a bid to track the serial killer.

CFSL had verbally shared the DNA report findings after testing semen samples taken from the bodies of a 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.

The doctor who had conducted the autopsy of the MBA student in 2010 had visited the crime spot in 2022 and found similar circumstantial evidence, prompting police to seek DNA tests, conducted mostly in sensitive and heinous crimes, including murder and rape.

The CFSL team had preserved semen samples collected from bodies of both victims, making the DNA test possible that eventually established that both women were murdered by the same man.

Ever since, taking the probe forward, police have rounded up 15 prime suspects and collected their semen samples. But the findings thereon aren’t immediately clear.

Police officials said after the CFSL findings, the district crime cell, which was formed in 2021 to solve heinous crimes, had been recreating and reinvestigating both cases.

“There was no written report, but the DNA test result was conveyed to us verbally in December last year. The DNA match has given us a few vital clues and our investigators are zeroing in on more prime suspects. We are investigating the cases with fresh evidence and hope to nab the accused soon,” a senior police officer said.

Police are also questioning auto-rickshaw drivers, as some three-wheelers were captured in the CCTV footage gathered from the Maloya murder scene.

Investigators suspect the accused is aged between 35 and 40 currently and may be a resident of the same area where the crimes were committed.

“The older victim had a strong build and is unlikely to have been overpowered by a single person. Though the CFSL team has suggested involvement of one man, we are still investigating if multiple accused were involved. If the killer acted alone, he may have drugged the victims and taken them to secluded locations surreptitiously to commit the crimes,” a senior police official said.

Mystery killer struck twice in 12 years

Shockingly, after the Chandigarh Police failed to trace the accused in the first murder, he targeted the second victim fearlessly after 12 years

July 30, 2010: The 22-year-old MBA victim was sitting on her scooter and talking to a male friend when someone hit her from behind, before murdering her. Her body was found in semi-naked condition near a taxi stand in Sector 38 West. Police had filed an untraced report in a local court in 2020, citing that all their efforts to arrest the accused went in vain.

January 11, 2022: The 40-year-old mother of three had gone missing around 8 pm after being dropped at the bus stand in Maloya by her husband. Later her naked body—with her mouth gagged—was found in the bushes, a few metres from her house in Maloya. Her husband, 45, who plies an auto-rickshaw, had lodged a missing person complaint after she didn’t return home.

Rained on both days

Heavy rain had washed out crucial evidence in both cases. “Coincidently, it rained on both days, but the crime scene in the first scene was affected more. Both the victims had suffered head injuries,” said an investigating officer.