Lucknow: BDS final year student found dead in her apartment

Lucknow: Final year BDS student, Priya Singh was found dead in her apartment on Tuesday. Police suspects that this is a murder case rather than suicide. She was a resident of Cantt area and a student at Babu Banarasi Das University.

Priya's father Prakash Singh is an Engineer who had gone to visit a program in Bihar's Gopalganj along with his wife Renu. The victim was all alone at home.

One of Priya's relative, Sanjay Kumar, who is a retired Army officer said "On Monday evening, Priya came back home. I called her casually on Tuesday morning, but she did not answer the calls. I rushed to her place as I live nearby and on reaching there, I found the door was open. Priya's room was locked from outside. When I went in, I saw her lying on a plank".

"I tried waking her up but did not get any response. I then informed the police. Finger Print Experts, Forensic Team and Dog Squad were called on the spot. The body has been sent for post-mortem. The cause of death will be confirmed after post-mortem report arrives", he further added.

ALSO READ: National anthem recital stopped midway at BJP- controlled IMC meet

Sources from police said that the BDS student was lying on her bed with her mouth open, which is indicative of asphyxia. A dupatta was hanging from the ceiling fan, a possible attempt to make a murder look like suicide. There were no signs of forced entry, meaning the deceased knew her assailant, if any. Finally, the door was latched from outside.

Cantonment circle officer Tanu Upadhyay said "The mark around Priya’s neck could be caused both in case of murder (by strangulation) and suicide (by hanging). Call logs, messages and images from her two phones and a tablet has been erased. A broken phone has also been seized from the spot. All gadgets have been sent for forensic study".

Cantonment SHO Ranjana Sachan said that while postmortem would confirm the time and cause of death, from the condition of the body it appeared that the student died between 10pm and midnight.

“Based on the complaint of the girl’s father, we have detained the maid for questioning,” the SHO said. Surveillance camera footage have etained the maid for questioning,” the SHO said. Surveillance camera footage have not yielded any clue so far, but a tracker dog pressed into service sniffed its way to an alley around 100 metres from the house before it lost trail.