Pune’s infotech community has been shocked by the brutal murder of a 24-year-old software engineer, Shraddha Suresh Chhajed, allegedly by her colleague, 27-year-old Anmol Survarna Singh Jabbal.
Pune’s infotech community has been shocked by the brutal murder of a 24-year-old software engineer, Shraddha Suresh Chhajed, allegedly by her colleague, 27-year-old Anmol Survarna Singh Jabbal. Both worked for Symantec Corporation, which sells Norton anti-virus solutions.
The murder took place six days ago on July 28, but was discovered only around midnight on Sunday, when Anmol turned up at a police station with his father to report that he and Shraddha had been kidnapped. He claimed that although their hands and legs had been tied by the kidnappers, he somehow managed to escape, and was unaware of Shraddha’s fate.
However, under intense police grilling, Anmol apparently broke down and confessed to killing her. He also disclosed how he had disposed of her body at Basmat junction in Nanded district, 480 km away from Pune, on the day she was killed, deputy commissioner of police (zone III) Mahesh Patil told newspersons on Monday.
Anmol, a resident of Baner-Pashan Link Road, Pune, is in police custody. A case has been registered under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code with the Basmat police station. Shraddha, who hailed from Pune, was a resident of Model Colony.
Giving the sequence of events as pieced together by the police, DCP Patil said Anmol reached the company’s offices at Baner Road at 7.34am on July 28. Shraddha was in around the same time. The two went to their work places upstairs.
Around 8am, Anmol went to the basement parking lot and asked Shraddha to come down. “He used to teach her to drive a car,” Patil said. Shraddha was sitting on the rear seat of the Santro when Anmol allegedly picked up the car jack and hit her on the head. He also tried to smother her to death. “She died in the parking area,” Patil said.
“With Shraddha lying dead on the rear seat, Anmol drove out of the company premises around 9.15 am,” Patil said. When the car reached Khadki, Anmol shifted her body from the rear seat to the boot of the car. He then decided to go to Nagpur, but on reaching Nanded, he dumped the body on a dirt road in Kautha village and fled.
A post-mortem by the Basmat police revealed that Shraddha died of a head injury and had marks on her nose and neck, “indicating an attempt to smother her to death.” Although Anmol told the police that he did not like Shraddha and killed her because he “hated her”, the police are probing whether the murder was the result of a one-sided affair.
The car used in the murder is yet to be traced. According to the police, after deserting his car, Anmol took a train from Nanded to Hyderabad, from where he went to Nizamuddin. He then went to Jaipur and from there reached Pune on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, the relatives of Shraddha and Anmol had lodged missing reports in the Chatushrungi police station on July 29. While Shraddha’s cousin lodged a complaint at 3.10 am, Anmol’s father did so a few minutes later at 3.15 am.
Shraddha’s cousin Pradnesh Naulakha told the police that she left home on the morning of July 28. Her scooter and purse were found in the company premises. Anmol’s father said his son left home in his car but neither the car nor he was traceable.
DCP Patil said that Anmol, a Sikh, had long hair and a turban but on Saturday night, when he surfaced, his hair was cut and he did not have the turban.
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