The police have arrested a room boy of a service apartment in Prestige Shantiniketan in ITPL in Kadugodi in connection with the murder of a 33-year-old woman working in the HR division of a private firm at Mahadevapura.
The deceased, Rajita Kadappuram, was a native of Mumbai. She stayed in the service apartment. Her husband is employed overseas in the United Kingdom.
The suspect, Laishram Hemba Singh, 21, is a native of Manipur. He used to get groceries and would press clothes for residents of the service apartment. The residents use to pay him for his services.
A senior police officer said that on February 8, Rajita had given her clothes to Laishram for pressing. That night, when he went to her home to return the clothes, he noticed that she was alone. He allegedly pushed her inside the house and locked the main door. He allegedly hit her with an iron rod and smothered her to death. He allegedly took ₹3,500 and two mobile phones.
The next day was Saturday. When Rajita did not emerge from her room till evening, her neighbours became suspicious and called her on her mobile phone. As both were switched off, they alerted the police who found Rajita in a pool of blood.
They alerted her parents in Mumbai and sent her body for post-mortem. The report said that she died due to the combined effect of smothering and a head injury. Her father Kunhiraman told police that both her mobile phones were missing. Neighbours told police that they heard screams on February 8 night and suspected that Laishram may have been involved.
Police questioned Laishram who claimed to have killed Rajita for money.