The 26-year-old woman was found murdered in a flat in Baranagar
Kolkata: A prime suspect in the murder of 26-year-old yoga instructor Anjali Shaw in a Baranagar flat was arrested from a hideout in Delhi on Thursday. “One such WhatsApp call was made to her mother at 3.58 pm on Wednesday. The 13-second call remained silent at the other end.
The call was subsequently disconnected and the phone switched off,” said Shivam Shaw, the victim’s cousin. We are also examining the online gaming angle and conducting raids at different locations to trace the suspects,” Kuntal Bandyopadhyay, DCP (South), Barrackpore Police Commissionerate, told TOI. “Despite repeated objections from family members, she continued playing and developed contacts with several unknown persons through online gaming platforms,” Rajendra said.
Police investigating the murder suspect it could be a case of organised crime, with the possible involvement of multiple persons. Investigators are also probing whether an online gaming dispute, possibly linked to PUBG, could have triggered the murder, as the victim was allegedly addicted to online games. When Anjali’s mother asked the caller why they had killed her daughter and what crime she had committed, there was no response. “We have gathered several leads in connection with the murder.
Meanwhile, Anjali’s father Rajendra Prasad, who lives in an apartment behind the Dunlop More petrol pump, reportedly told police on Thursday that his daughter had become heavily addicted to PUBG around a year and a half ago, when she was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
CCTV footage has captured several unidentified youths loitering around the crime spot near Shitala Mata Lane of Lakepally, according to cops. Cops suspect the assailants may have taken away Anjali’s phone to destroy evidence. However, the missing phone has since allegedly been used to send threatening messages and make WhatsApp calls to the victim’s family, adding a fresh twist to the investigation. Investigators suspect Anjali may have been murdered by the time the message was sent. This has raised a series of questions: Who was operating her phone after her death? Was one of the murderers sending the messages? Were they intended to mislead the family and investigators, or was there another motive behind the communications?
The family claimed that at least three threatening messages and WhatsApp calls were received from Anjali’s missing phone after her body was recovered on Tuesday night.