BPO employee's rape and murder: Police deny media reports

Bangalore, Apr 11 (UNI) The city police, investigating the rape and murder of BPO employee Prathibha Murthy, today refuted media reports that the DNA report has not confirmed rape on the victim.

A release from the office of the city Commisisoner of Police here said the DNA report had only indicated that the swabs collected from Pratibha's body did not yield DNA suitable for analysis.

Stating that the post mortem report had opined that ''rape might have been committed,'' the release said Spermatazova might not have been detected in the body as the post-mortem was conducted more than three days after the alleged rape and murder. The DNA report did not materially change the conclusion about the rape based on post-mortem and other evidence, it asserted.

On December 13, an unsuspecting Prathiba (24), working in a multinational BPO firm here, got into a cab at around 0200 hrs for her shift trusting driver Shivakumar's words that it was an alternate vehicle arranged by the company. Shivakumar took her to an isolated spot, raped and murdered her. He then dumped her body in a nearby ditch and fled the scene. The brutal crime rocked the entire city, particularly the BPO industry, and raised questions about the safety of women call centre workers.

UNI MV GD MSJ VC2055