The Mahadevapura police have cracked the murder case of software engineer V Raju (26), who worked with a company in ITPL near Whitefield with the arrest of his roommate Mandaralingam (26).
Police said Mandaralingam, also a software engineer, works on the ITPL campus. On May 28, Mandaralingam had walked into the Mahadevapura police station claiming that he found his roommate Raju dead. Mandaralingam told police that he did not know anything about it as he returned home from office only in the evening and found the body.
Police, who visited the crime scene, did not find anything suspicious as Raju’s body did not bear any external injury and there were no blood stains. Inquiries in the neighbourhood did not yield any clues as well.
Even as the police were looking for leads, doctors who conducted the autopsy on Raju said that he had died after suffering severe internal injuries in the skull. This alerted police, and they started keeping tabs on a few people who were close to Raju. Ten days later, police came to know that Mandaralingam got Rs 1.5 lakh transferred to his account from Raju’s account through online banking. During the course of investigation, they also found out that Mandaralingam had been out of his office after logging in at 9 am on the day of Raju’s death.
Armed with this information, police wasted no time and took Mandaralingam into custody. He then spilled the beans about murdering his roommate. He confessed that, on the day he murdered Raju, the latter had come to the city from Chennai at 8.30 am.
Mandaralingam, who had gone to office, came back and quarrelled with his roommate. Since Raju had allegedly hit him, he claimed that he retaliated by picking up a stone and bludgeoning Raju with it.
The killer told the police that Raju used to insult him in front of his girlfriend. Mandaralingam and Raju were roommates for over seven years.
Mandaralingam was produced before a court and remanded to custody.
Coping With Insult
Eminent psychologist Dr A Sridhar explains how to handle the situation when an individual is being insulted before his girlfriend. There are many ways to cope with it, says the doctor. In the adolescent stage, when individuals are just out of college, there will be a component of jealousy along with competitiveness. One can get away from the situation or discontinue the relationship with a person who has such negative tendencies, he said. Blunt words can also be used as a defence, without causing any harm, at times when one is insulted in front of one’s girlfriend.