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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, JAN 29: Seven days after The Indian Express principal correspondent Shivani was found murdered in her Patparganj residence, the police say they are keeping a close “watch on someone’s movements”. The suspect is a resident of Delhi.
Senior officials refused to disclose the identity of the suspect at this stage, because they were still looking for clues to determine the sequence of events leading to the murder. The officials denied they had picked up a person for questioning from Noida yesterday.
Over the past two days, investigators re-examined the possibility of robbery being the motive behind Shivani’s murder. A loaded camera was found missing from the house. But officials denied that any jewelry was missing from Shivani’s body. “We don’t want to take any chances. But at this stage we can safely repeat that robbery does not seem to have been the motive. The ransacking and the missing camera are a ploy to confuse the police,” an official said. Investigators also ruled out the involvement ofChandrasekhar — the man who was convicted for assaulting Shivani in 1994 — in the murder. Police teams were sent to Bangalore, where Chandrasekhar is currently settled, to verify his movements over the past 10 days. Nothing suspicious has been found.
Chandrasekhar had been convicted and fined by a city court after Shivani had filed a case. After Shivani’s murder, police suspected that he could have borne a grudge all these years.
The Crime Branch has received a report from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory on one of the blood samples. The blood on the floor of the bedroom has been found to be that of Shivani. The other two reports of the blood stains on the frying pan and the towel which was recovered from the bathroom — are expected by tomorrow.
Condolence meet: The Indian Womens’ Press Corps (IWPC) today said a condolence meeting will be held at the IWPC office in memory of Shivani on Saturday. The meeting will begin at 3 pm at the IWPC’s 5, Windsor Place office.
