LUCKNOW: Police scanned 8 lakh phone numbers, kept watch on 364 cab drivers and 400 autorickshaw drivers as nine police teams from three districts toiled to work out the murder of 20-year-old polytechnic student Sanskriti Rai.
Police claimed to have cracked the case with the arrest of main accused Rajesh on Thursday while three others involved in the murder are on the run. Rajesh, a history-sheeter of Rampur Kalan, Sitapur, works as an auto driver and lives in a slum of Indiranagar locality.
Sanskriti Rai had been found murdered on IIM road in Madiaon on June 22.
ADG Lucknow Zone, Rajeev Krishna claimed that robbery was the motive for the girl’s murder. The girl’s certificates, bag and her relative’s passbook were recovered from Rajesh’s house in Sitapur. Three other miscreants involved in the crime have been identified, he added.
Rai had left her house at 8.27pm on June 21 to go to Badshahnagar railway station where from she had to board Chhapra Express for
her native place in Ballia. She boarded an autorickshaw near Munshipulia crossing. Two men, including Rajesh, were already sitting in the vehicle.
On the way, the driver turned the auto towards Amrapali crossing citing traffic jam on main route. When the driver turned towards Sector 25, Sanskriti sensed foul play and tried to raise an alarm. But Rajesh trained a country-made pistol at her while his aide gagged her. The miscreants took her towards Tedhipulia crossing after switching off her phone. They proceeded towards Ghaila Bridge via Bhithauli crossing.
“On the way, the miscreants looted her bag and Rs 2,200. After robbing her, they forced her out of the auto and banged her head against the railing on the side lane. They pushed her down and fled. The girl bled profusely and remained lying unattended for 15 hours. She was finally spotted by a woman the next day,” he said.
IG, Lucknow range, Sujeet Pandey said that teams have been sent to other states to nab the three absconding miscreants.
Representative image
