The main accused in the murder of Radhika Tanwar has been arrested from Mumbai, four days after she was killed in broad daylight on her way to college.
A team of Delhi Police officials arrested 25-year-old Ram Singh alias Vijay in connection with the killing of the girl outside Ramlal Anand college in Shantiniketan area of South Delhi’s Dhaula Kuan.
The murder of the 20-year-old second-year degree student had triggered protests in Delhi.
Investigators had zeroed in on Singh, who introduced himself as Vijay in Delhi, after investigators detained his two friends — Tabrez and Ashraf — from UP's Sitapur. The duo allegedly harboured and helped him flee the capital on March 10, two days after Radhika was shot dead.
"He nurtured deep grudge against Radhika after he was beaten up for harassing her and used to tell his friends that whenever he gets an opportunity, he will take revenge. He felt insulted and left for Mumbai," H.G.S. Dhaliwal, deputy commissioner of police (South), had said yesterday.
Dhaliwal said investigations in Viswan village of Sitapur from where Vijay hails have revealed that he has a "psychopathic streak" and is learnt to have been involved in stalking women in his village. Sitapur is around 450 km from the national capital.
He returned to the capital at least 45 days ago and had followed Radhika at least twice allegedly with an intention to kill her.
"We have learnt that a month ago, he had boarded a bus in which the victim was travelling. However, he could not execute his plans. Last Saturday, he followed her on the foot-over-bridge," Dhaliwal said.
According to investigators, Vijay had gone to his friend's place in Rohini and told them he was involved in a scuffle. He stayed at their place on March eight and next day left for another friend's place in Gurgaon.
"He and his two friends planned to go to Gurgaon after seeing the extensive media coverage. The friends also got a whiff off what was happening. However, the friend in Gurgaon refused to help as he was scared. The two friends took him to Gurgaon railway station where they got separated from Vijay," the investigators said.
Vijay was arrested at around 11 PM last night fromVikroli Station in Phatak area of Tagore Nagar in Mumbai, a senior police official said.
A team of police officials have left for Delhi with Vijay.