The son of a retired technical officer of the Defence Research and Development Organisation has been arrested on the charge of murdering the wife of a scientist for financial gain at the DRDO quarters in Baiyappanahalli here on Monday. The suspect had also “blackmailed” the victim with her fake suicide note.
Vijayan R, 33, was arrested from his Horamavu house about six hours after he allegedly slit the throat of Rajani Rajbala, 46, and snatched her gold chains, Police Commissioner Raghavendra Auradkar told reporters here on Tuesday.
Vijayan’s father was a technical officer at the Gas Turbine Research Establishment and the family lived in the DRDO quarters, Phase I, CV Raman Nagar, until his retirement. Since Rajbala and her husband Amrith Pakyadas also lived on the same campus, the suspect befriended the family which hails from Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu.
Huge loans
Vijayan, a school dropout who had been working with a non-profit organisation, was unable to repay the huge loans he had taken.
Even his debit-cum-credit card had been deactivated and he needed Rs 10,000 to reactivate it. An urgent need for money thus drew him to murder Rajbala, G B Manjunath, ACP (Ulsoor subdivision), told Deccan Herald. The suspect thought of “extorting” money from Rajbala.
He met her recently at her D-22 flat and claimed he was planning to make a documentary on the love story of a couple. But the female protagonist commits suicide following differences with her husband, Vijayan reportedly told Rajbala and coaxed her into believing that he needed a suicide letter in Tamil to be used in the documentary.
He then requested her to write the suicide letter as he does not know the language. Rajbala believed him, wrote the letter and gave it to him. Vijayan, however, started blackmailing her with the letter and even threatened to murder her if she did not give him money.
“He entered Rajbala’s house around 11 am. After a brief conversation, he demanded money but she refused. In a fit of rage, he then slit her throat twice with a knife in the bedroom.
Leaving her almost dead, he snatched the two gold chains on her person,” said Baiyyappanahalli Police Inspector K V Srinivas.
A neighbour rang the door bell just when Vijayan was allegedly slitting Rajbala’s throat. The suspect hurriedly pocketed the gold chains, jumped to the second floor from the balcony and fled.
Key, a dead give-away
He suffered a fracture in his leg and also injured his spine. While jumping down, he lost the key of his motorcycle which later gave away his identity. He managed to sneak out of the DRDO campus, hired an autorickshaw and reached his house, the police inspector added.