Shabad killer’s last trail: police reconstruct Raj Kumar’s final 63 hours
For nearly three days after six people were killed in Daivalaguda village of Shabad, P. Raj Kumar appeared to have disappeared without a trace until
For nearly three days after six people were killed in Daivalaguda village of Shabad, P. Raj Kumar appeared to have disappeared without a trace until his body was found on a Monday (July 13) afternoon in Kothur. Now, investigators from the Future City police say they have pieced together his final movements, reconstructing a journey that took him from a village temple to a budget hotel in LB Nagar, onto a taxi back towards Kothur and, finally, to an isolated roadside where he is believed to have consumed a herbicide and ended his life. According to an officer from the Future City police, Raj Kumar spent Saturday, the day after the murders, moving around the Kothur area while evading police.
He hired a car from his village in Daivalaguda and abandoned it near Chegur, Kothur about 12 kilometres away after it ran out of fuel. From there, he went on the railway tracks of Thimmapur railway station in an attempt to end his life. After backing out, investigators believe he took shelter at a small temple through Sunday. On Monday morning, he boarded a TGSRTC bus (532) from Kothur to Aramghar X Roads before taking another bus to LB Nagar. There, he checked into a hotel but stayed for less than 30 minutes. CCTV footage obtained by the police shows Raj Kumar entering the hotel with his face covered by a mask.
Staff members noticed bloodstains on his shirt and questioned him about them. He allegedly claimed that he had suffered an injury. “Raj Kumar asked the reception staff for the Wi-Fi password, while keeping his mobile phone in airplane mode. We suspect he used the internet to check media reports and developments in the manhunt launched after the killings,” said the officer. For proof, he showed his Aadhar card on his phone to the staffers, who took a photograph of it. “In that screen, his phone was seen on airplane mode,” added the officer. After about 25 minutes, he checked out, paid the bill and asked the hotel staff to book a taxi.
During check-in, he produced an Aadhaar card stored on his mobile phone as proof of identity. The taxi dropped him near Shamshabad. From there, he got down somewhere between Kothur and Shadnagar and later purchased a bottle of herbicide from a shop in Kothur, police said. Investigators believe Raj Kumar then wandered through the area for some time before walking into an isolated stretch with little public movement, where he allegedly consumed the herbicide. His body was found on July 13 near Penjerla village, about 20 km from the crime scene, after a passer-by alerted the police. A bottle of herbicide was recovered beside the body.
The BriefWire