The Hostel Murder Case

In March 2021 Jeet Thakur Sahai was asked by his colleague in another department to assist in a case. Inspector Hitesh Rampal was investigating the murder of a student at a hostel of a college in New Delhi. The college’s name was Shri Bharat Saxena College of Arts and Commerce. The college had two hostel buildings in its campus. The previous night a student was found murdered on the fourth floor of the men’s hostel building. The dead student’s name was Ashish Paranjpe.

Inspector Hitesh, Jeet and two constables went to the hostel building. They were met by the college’s Principal Mr. Subrat Srivastava and the hostel’s warden Mr. Pavan Negi.

Jeet: “Gentlemen, how many students live in this hostel building?”

Mr. Srivastava: “The building has six floors and a total of 223 students. Most rooms have two students living together but there are a few single rooms as well. Ashish lived in a single room.”

The forensics team had come to take Ashish’s body for further examination. Jeet noticed long bruising marks on Ashish’s neck. Others noticed them as well.

Inspector Hitesh: “We need to talk with all the students.”

Mr. Negi: “Of course. They are all here. No one is being allowed to leave.”

Inspector Hitesh, Jeet and the constables started questioning all the students by going from room to room.

Jeet talked with Ashish’s best friend Mohan Singhal.

Jeet: “Was Ashish fond of music?”

Mohan: “Yes, he was. He was part of a band. The band had six members including Ashish.”

Jeet: “I would like to meet all the members of the band.”

The band members’ names were Razak Siddiqui, Neil Gomes, Jayesh Kapadia, Varun Agarwal and Ritesh Sehwag. Jeet talked with each of the members individually. He asked them to show the instruments they played.

Ashish used to play the flute. Razak played the drums. Neil played the tabla. Jayesh played the guitar. Varun played the harmonica. Ritesh was the vocalist.

After taking a look at the instruments and asking a few questions, Jeet went to see Inspector Hitesh.

He told him that he thinks Jayesh killed Ashish because his guitar’s strings looked a bit damaged and the bruise marks on Ashish’s neck could be by strangulation using a guitar string.

Inspector Hitesh asked Jayesh to come to the police station for further questioning. He told Mr. Srivastava and Mr. Negi that he may return for further questions and that none of the hostel’s students could leave the city without police permission.

At the police station Inspector Hitesh and Jeet asked Jayesh a few more questions. After some questions Jayesh eventually blurted out the truth. He had murdered Ashish. A few weeks ago they had a very big argument over their earnings of a show. They would do some shows from time to time. For this particular show everyone was to get 30,000 rupees each. Their payment was in cash by the organizers. When the money was received, Jayesh had gone to his village for a few days. Ashish mentioned that he would take Jayesh’s money and he would later give it to him. However, without letting Jayesh know Ashish spent 7,000 rupees. When Jayesh returned Ashish gave him the 23,000 rupees and said that he would give him 7,000 rupees in a few weeks. Jayesh was furious and they had a big argument. A few days ago Ashish called Jayesh and mentioned that he would give the money the previous day. Jayesh was very angry and did not believe him. The previous night Jayesh planned on hurting Ashish. He took a string of his guitar and hid it in the big pocket of his jacket. When Jayesh went to see Ashish, the latter called him inside his room. Ashish closed his room’s door. Jayesh asked about the money. Ashish said that his parents would send him the money but it would take another few weeks. Jayesh got upset and mentioned that he should have let him know before. Ashish started laughing and said that it was no big deal. According to him it was only 7,000 rupees and Jayesh should wait for a few more weeks. This infuriated Jayesh and he took out the guitar string and strangled Ashish. Soon Ashish died. As he put his hand on Ashish’s mouth he could not shout for help. It all happened so quickly. Then Jayesh closed the door and went back to his room. Later in the evening when Ashish did not report for dinner the warden opened his room and saw his dead body. Then he called the police.

Inspector Hitesh arrested Jayesh. A court case against Jayesh would start in a local court in eleven days.

Inspector Hitesh thanked Jeet for his help. Jeet mentioned he was glad that he could help out.

The following day Jeet returned to his office in New Delhi so that he continue his job with their Research and Analysis Unit there.