AUGUST 8: A servant of Gupta household, Rajaram Hiraman Choudhary alias Chotu, has been arrested for killing Premlata Gupta at her Malabar Hill flat on Wednesday afternoon. Chotu, employed as a servant with the Guptas, told police that he killed her ``to destroy the evidence.''

While his accomplice Gangaram Jagdish Choudhary alias Sagar has also been nabbed, a police party has left for Lohar village, Madhubani district of Bihar to nab two other suspects - Soman and Santosh Choudhary.

``A police party has been sent by air to Bihar to nab the culprits. The officers are expected to reach Lohar before the accused do. We want to catch them unawares,'' said zonal deputy commissioner of police Param Bir Singh.

Rajaram, meanwhile, told Malabar police that they (he and his friends) believed they could get away with the robbery by killing Premlata, who was the sole witness to the crime. He told police the plot was hatched after carefully studying daily schedules of the Guptas.

According to the investigating officer, R Pawar, Rajaram and his accomplices were sure that the grandchild of Guptas, Pooja, would not return home before 2 pm as she attended computer classes at Nana Chowk. Pranlal Gupta, husband of the deceased, had a business to attend to at Mittal Tower at Nariman Point and then at Jolly Bhavan at Marine Lines. Pranlal's son Pramod and his wife live at Andheri.

Chotu said though they succeeded in breaking open a cupboard with the help of a `rampuri' knife, they left behind the weapon in the hurry to escape.

When Pranlal returned home on being informed by a neighbour about the incident, he found his wife's body in a pool of blood. A yellow coloured blood-stained knife was lying close to the body. The assailants had disconnected the telephones in the hall and the bedroom of the 6th-floor apartment.

According to a senior officer, it did not take police long to piece the plot together. Police found several inconsistencies in his statements. They then dished out their `special treatment' and Rajaram not only confessed to his crime, but also disclosed the names and whereabouts of his accomplices.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.