Delhi Police cracks case with 'hoodie clue', accused held

Highlights

A crucial CCTV clue showing a man wearing a hoodie helped the Delhi Police crack the murder case of a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) engineer, whose body was...

A crucial CCTV clue showing a man wearing a hoodie helped the Delhi Police crack the murder case of a Delhi Jal Board (DJB) engineer, whose body was found inside his flat in Rohini last week, an official said on Thursday.

"The murder incident took place on October 31, and the deceased, identified as Suresh Kumar Rathi (59), was serving as an Assistant Engineer with the DJB in the Rohini area. His family members informed the police on November 3 after he did not respond to their calls," Joint Commissioner of Police (Northern Range) Vijay Singh said during a briefing.

He said that immediately, multiple teams were formed and over 200 police personnel were deployed to track the case and arrest the accused. The team visited the incident spot and recovered the body from the flat owned by Rathi in Sector-22, Rohini. The body was sent for postmortem.

He said that Rathi's family members live about 300 to 400 metres away from the flat where he was found dead, and Rathi used to visit that house frequently.

During the investigation, the police checked over 200 CCTV footage clips from around the locality and found visuals of a man wearing a hoodie who was seen trying to hide his face under the cap.

"We examined the entry and exit footage and obtained a clue about the accused. Through technical surveillance, we found that he had entered the flat around 9 pm, but there was no footage of him exiting it," the Joint CP said.

Further analysis of the footage revealed that the accused had first met Rathi on October 25 at a 'paan shop' in Sector 31, Rohini, where they were seen talking.

"He again met Rathi on October 27 at the same shop, suggesting that he had been making acquaintance with the victim as part of his plan," the officer said.

The police team traced a scooter that was seen in the CCTV near the crime scene and found it registered in the Aman Vihar area. After verifying several dossiers of known offenders, the team zeroed in on Bunty, whose appearance matched the man seen in the footage.

Further investigation into the matter is underway, police said. (PTI)