The posh housing society, Himalayan Heights, at Bhakti Park in Wadala (East), had closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the building but they were defunct.
On Thursday, Pallavi Parkayastha, the 25-year-old daughter of an IAS officer from Delhi was found dead in her 16th floor flat at 21-storey Himalayan Heights. She was a lawyer and lived with her boyfriend.
The residents said the CCTV cameras were functional until six months ago when the builder was in charge of the building’s maintenance. After a committee was formed by the society, the CCTV cameras have been non-functional as it did not want to bear the extra expense. There are 21 security guards in the society and so the entry and exit of an outsider without getting caught is unlikely, said the police.
“The last call Parkayastha made from her cell phone was to the society’s electrician after power in her flat went kaput. Her boyfriend, Avik Sengupta, also called the electrician, who fixed the problem after taking the keys of the meter box from a guard,” said Nagesh Jadhav, senior inspector of Wadala TT police station.
“The last incoming call on her phone was Sengupta’s. When the electrician was questioned, he said he did not even enter the flat,” added Jadhav.
The police have found strands of hair, both of men and women, from the flat and blood stains everywhere. They said that Parkayastha had struggled very hard to fight her assailants before she gave up. She managed get out of her flat and ring her neighbour’s doorbell. But when no one answered, she stumbled back to her flat. Sengupta found her a few minutes later. The police found a hookah in the living room which indicated that probably someone known to her had come and chatted with her for some time.
A senior doctor from the post-mortem department of LTMG Sion hospital said: “There was a big cut on her neck and five minor ones on her face and chest. We have preserved her viscera that will be sent for investigations.”
Joint commissioner of police (crime) Himanshu Roy said the motive of the crime was unclear. “We have put some best officers on the case,” he added.
