23-yr-old IT professional murdered; security guard arrested

A security guard was arrested for allegedly killing a 23-year-old woman IT professional working at software major Infosys at the company's Hinjewadi campus here, police said today.

Rasila Raju OP was found dead in a conference room on the 9th floor of the Infosys building in Phase II of Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park last evening. The systems engineer, who hailed from Kozhikode district of Kerala, had allegedly been strangulated with a computer cable.

A local court remanded the accused Bhaben Saikia, a security guard from Terrier Security Services deployed at the campus, in police custody till February 4 after police nabbed him at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai.

An officer from Hinjewadi police station said Saikia, hailing from Assam, told police during questioning that on Saturday Rasila had chided him for 'staring' at her, and threatened to complain.

"Rasila came to the office at 2 pm on Sunday and was working in a section on the ninth floor while her two teammates were working online (with her) from Bangalore," said deputy commissioner of police Ganesh Shinde at a press conference today.

The accused entered the section on the pretext of noting down serial numbers of some computers. "He then asked her not to complain against him for his actions, however, she refused," Shinde said.

Rasila then went into the conference room. Saikia followed her, and strangled her using a computer cable and then kicked her in the face, the DCP said.

"The accused stayed on the company premises till his duty ended and later fled to Mumbai from where he was planning to board an Assam-bound train," the officer added.

 

"From the CCTV footage of the section, we found that there was nobody there except the accused. We started tracing his location and formed six teams to nab him," said the DCP.

Police tracked Saikia down to the train terminus in Mumbai in the wee hours today and arrested him.

ACP Vaishali Jadhav-Mane had told PTI last night that the murder came to light when Rasila's superior could not reach her on phone.

"Her manager was trying to call her, but there was no response. He then called and asked a security guard to go and check. She was found lying on the floor of conference room with computer cable around her neck and blood all over her face," the officer said.

Police said Saikia was deployed at Infosys for the last six months and before that worked with some other firm.

"Prima-facie we have learnt that the mandatory police verification had been done in Saikia's case by the security agency," DCP Shinde said.

This is a second incident in the city in the last few weeks where a woman IT professional became a victim. Antara Das, a 23-year-old IT professional from West Bengal, was brutally murdered last month, a few meters away from her workplace.

Meanwhile, Pune police commissioner Rashmi Shukla said she would be writing to Infosys, seeking explanations on security measures. "There are several questions...why there was only one female employee on the entire floor and why only one girl was asked to do duty on Sunday and that too between 2 and 11 pm.

"There were CCTV cameras, however, my question is who was monitoring it. If somebody had been monitoring it, it could have been noticed that a person was coming and going in that section where the girl was working alone," she said. "This is very serious. If the girl is working alone on the floor, there could have been an emergency, there could have been a fire, she could fall sick," she said.

"I am going to call a meeting of all the senior officials and security heads of all IT and ITES companies in Pune as the incident has left me angry," the Commissioner said, also recalling earlier incidents including the Antara Das murder. DCP Shinde too said the police would soon undertake a sensitisation campaign on women's safety across the companies.

Victim's father Raju O, who arrived today to collect his daughter's body, said he was going to file a case against the company for the security lapse. "When a female employee was working alone on the floor, why there was no female security guard on the floor and why the main head of the security allowed the accused to go on the floor," he asked.

A statement from Infosys earlier today said the company was assisting police with investigation. Pune has emerged as an IT hub in the last some years with over 400 companies having their centres here.