Mumbai: Police nab air hostess-killer within 24 hours

A sweeper working at a residential building in Marol allegedly murdered a 23-year-old trainee air hostess after attempting to rape her on Sunday morning. The accused, identified as Bikram Atwal, 40, was arrested within 24 hours of the incident coming to light.

When we started investigating the matter, we interrogated all four sweepers working at the building. One of the sweepers had an injury on his face; he also had blood stains on his shirt. We detained him and then he confessed to the crime," said a police officer from Powai police.

"Atwal entered the woman's apartment as she had asked him to clean a choked pipeline. There was a fight between the two and the woman resisted Atwal. Both sustained injuries. There are nail scratches on Atwal's face. He also has injuries on his hand. He tried to rape her but the woman resisted," said an officer.

According to the police, the accused took advantage of the woman being alone at home. REPRESENTATION PIC

"We have registered an FIR and apprehended an accused identified as Bikram Atwal. After he entered the woman's house, they both had an argument. The fight became physical and the woman fought back.

In a fit of rage, he killed the woman with a knife. The woman had a deep slit at her throat. He has been charged under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). We will add more sections to the FIR based on further investigation," said Datta Nalawade, deputy commissioner of police, Zone X.

‘Fight scared killer'

Another officer privy to the investigation added, "After the fight, Atwal got scared that the woman would alert her parents and others about the incident and decided to use the knife to kill her." The police are waiting for the post-mortem report to add relevant charges related to attempt to rape against Atwal.

Atwal went to his residence in Tunga village after murdering the woman. When his wife enquired about his blood-stained clothes, he said he sustained minor injuries while picking up broken glass.

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The 23-year-old woman was training to become an air hostess and resided with her sister, who was visiting their village. Atwal allegedly took advantage of her being alone. He had the knife with him when he entered the woman's home. He will be produced in court on Tuesday.

Atwal and his wife worked in the same complex as sweepers. His wife did not accompany him to the building on Sunday as she was on leave. The murder took place in the morning on September 3. Atwal hails from Uttar Pradesh and had been working at the building for a decade. He has no criminal records. He and his wife have two daughters.

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No of sweepers working at the bldg and questioned by cops