Screams and blood on a balmy afternoon

Cop who rushed to save Naveena hearing her calls for help says the sight was 'appalling'

A few minutes before 2 pm, T Ravikumar, a constable attached to the High Court police station was savouring his lunch at a canteen on the ground floor, when he was jolted by the unrelenting, piteous screams of "police, help; police, help".

He, along with his colleagues, rushed to the spot. “Appalling and indescribable” is how terms what he saw.

“While Naveena was almost dead, Rajappa was shrieking in the bathroom which was bolted from outside by Subramanya Jois, a senior advocate and an eye witness to the incident,” he explains. Unbolting it, Ravikumar literally sprinted towards Rajappa.

“He had apparently consumed poison and slit his throat and the chest with a dagger that lay on the ground. Blood was gushing from his wounds. We shifted him to the Mallya Hospital," he told Deccan Herald.

Shocked by the incident, Vidhana Soudha police who have registered a case of murder and attempt to suicide against Rajappa, believe that a doomed love affair might have driven him to the extreme step.

The first-ever murder in the High Court precincts was unprecedented in many ways. A host of VIPs rushed to the spot and inspected the scene of crime. Among them were Home Minister Dr V S Acharya and Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Kumar. Commissioner of Police Shankar Bidari, Additional Commissioner of Police
(Administration) U Nisar Ahmad, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Alok Kumar, DCP (Central) G Ramesh and his team.

Suresh Kumar said that lawyers need not panic by the incident. "It's an unfortunate tragedy which shouldn't have happened. But judges and lawyers need not feel insecure. We'll beef up the security," he told the reporters. 

Rajappa in ICU

Rajappa (27), who attempted to commit suicide is currently in surgical intensive care unit at the Mallya Hospital, where he was taken by police around 2:15 pm. “For the next 48 hours the patient is not in a position to speak and is under observation,” said hospital CEO Indru Wadhwani.

“Rajappa has sustained multiple cut wounds on his neck, chest and abdomen. As the wind pipe was damaged severely, he was operated on,” Wadhwani said.

Stricter screening

The cold-blooded murder of a 25-year-old woman advocate has belittled the claims of "heavy" security cordon at the High Court. It is still a mystery how Rajappa, wearing a black robe, was able to smuggle a dagger into the High Court building without the metal detector sensing the weapon and any policeman stopping him midway.

Entry to the spot of murder in the backside of the High Court is not possible without passing through a metal detector manned by policemen.

According to G Ramesh, DCP (North), they are simply clueless as to how Rajappa managed to sneak in with the weapon. "It is still unclear, we are yet to examine this aspect," he told this newspaper.

Pushed on to the backfoot with the daylight murder, the City police will henceforth check the lawyers also.

"From Friday, we will also thoroughly check the lawyers," Commissioner of Police Shankar Bidari said.