Air hostess murder case: Sachin’s pal arrested, kin on the run
He had taken the help of his friend and kin to cover up the murder
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-04-24 05:55 GMT
Hyderabad: After smothering his wife Ritu Sareen to death, a drunk Sachin Uppal had taken the help of his friend and Infosys techie, K. Rakesh Kumar, to cover up the murder. Mr Kumar, who has been arrested for concealing evidence, had seen a pillow on her face after she died but hid the fact from the police for two days.
“Though he saw the assault and the evidence that she had been smothered, Rakesh did not tell us the details. He helped Sachin conceal the evidence. We have arrested him under relevant sections of IPC,” said Malkajgiri ACP, Mr M. Ravi Chandran.
Ritu was dead before she was taken to hospital, the post-mortem report has revealed. “He smothered her with a pillow till she stopped breathing, and later informed her parents,” said an investigation official.
The police said that Sachin had been very aggressive after Ritu’s family refused to give their property to him. “He repeatedly asked for money to invest in his business and he quarreling with her for this reason,” said the official, adding that he had also doubted her character.
Ritu’s father, Subhash, said that Sachin had been pressurising them to sell their house in Jamshedpur and give him Rs 10 lakh. “We had already given him Rs 15 lakh as dowry, and he was asking us to sell our house. If we sell it, where do we live?” he asked.
Sachin had also learnt that a house in Kolkata was registered in Ritu’s name, and he had told her that she should sell it and give him the money. “Ten months back, due to physical harassment, they had started living separately; but she went back to him thinking that he had changed,” the ACP said.
Cops are now on the lookout for Sachin’s absconding parents, who would pressurise him to extort money from Ritu’s family. Police have booked a case against Sachin’s mother, father and sister.