HimVani
Shimla: Gaurav Verma, a third year student at IIT Roorkee, has reportedly admitted murdering his female friend with whom he checked into a Shimla hotel on Saturday. The 22-year-old girl was found murdered the same day in the morning by hotel staff and the police. Shimla SP RM Sharma said Gaurav Verma was arrested by GRP personnel at Jagadhri railway station, and he confessed to his crime. While Gaurav belongs to Gonda in Uttar Pradesh, the girl, Pragati, an IIT- Delhi student, was from Patna.
Police claimed clues left at the murder site did not suggest that it was a premeditated crime. They found a birthday cake, a knife, a whiskey and beer bottles in the room. According to the accused’s statement, the two of them knew each other for the past three years and had first met at an IIT coaching centre in Kota. Gauruv admitted that the victim had told him about her earlier affairs, which made the police conclude that he may have taken the step out of suspicion.
The duo had come to Shimla to celebrate Gauruv’s birthday and had checked into hotel Rasik at about 3 am on Friday morning after having bought a cake, knife, beer and whiskey at Ambala. Police said after taking drinks and making love, Gauruv hit Pragati with an empty beer bottle while she was sleeping and later cut her throat and wrists.
He then took a taxi to Chandigarh, and claimed to have attempted suicide in between. From Chandigarh he took a taxi to Rorkee and later boarded a train from Hardwar and was headed for Bathinda. The police were able to track him down at Jagadhri and was arrested.
