Jyothi's assailant almost in bag: Police

The man who attacked Jyothi Uday in a Corporation Bank ATM kiosk on November 19, is reportedly using a mobile phone somewhere in Andhra Pradesh and the City police claim to have almost laid their hands on him.

About 100 policemen from the City, led by Joint Commissioner (Crime), Hemanth Nimbalkar, are trying to track down the suspect in Anantapur and Chittoor districts of the neighbouring state. Sleuths have been on his trail for the last two days with the help of local police, Nimbalkar said. A breakthrough is expected soon.

Although the identity of the assailant has not been established yet, senior police officers insisted they have “a wealth of information” on him and tracking him down is “just a matter of time”. 

The officer further said police had been groping in the dark until a few days ago but the situation had now “changed completely”. Police are now certain that the suspect is using a mobile phone but the number is yet to be traced. What’s more, people in some villages are also said to have sighted him many times. He, however, gave police the slip and escaped.

Police are analysing the call detail records of the area with a fine-tooth comb. In addition, they have taken fingerprints from the Corporation Bank ATM kiosk where the man attacked Jyothi and also from Dharmavaram where he is suspected to have murdered another woman Prameelamma a week before the Bangalore incident.

Investigators are also verifying fingerprint samples from the murder scene of Leelamma, who is suspected to have been another victim of the assailant in Guttur village on Thursday night. The police officer said that it was not confirmed yet whether it was the same assailant who killed her. The Anantapur police, who are investigating the crime, are yet to arrive at such a conclusion.

The officer further said there was every possibility that the assailant had struck again. Guttur village is also very close to Hindupur where the assailant had sold Jyothi’s mobile phone a day after he had attacked her.