Four Biharis held for Punjab principal's murder

Ludhiana, Jul 24 (UNI) Punjab police today claimed to have cracked the sensational murder of Jalandhar Kanya Mahavidyalay Principal Ritu Bawa along with three others, with the arrest of four criminals from Bihar.

The Punjab police arrested Mohammad Kuddus, Rahim, Bittu Yadav alias Ramu and the guard of the college Raman Deep in Saharsa district of Bihar recently and recovered the expensive mobile phone and ornaments worth lakhs belonging to Bawa from their possession, Punjab Police Chief N P S Aulakh told newspersons here today.

The mobile phones of Bawa and the guards had helped in cracking the case, the police chief said.

However, two main accused in the case, Manoj and Sachin, who were former security guards of the college, were still at large and attempts were on to nab them, he added.

Those killed on the night of January 5 this year besides the aged woman principal, included two guards Tarsem Chand and Shamsuddin and Bawa's cook Kishore Mandal.

According to Punjab DGP, Sachin had come to know that Bawa, who was scheduled to retire in a few month's time, had kept a large amount of cash and jewellery at her residence where she used to live alone.

They decided to rob her and fetched Kuddus, Rahim and Manoj and Bittu from Saharsa to help execute the crime. The group reached Jalandhar on January 4 and gained entry into the college complex with the help of a duplicate key of the backdoor provided by Sachin.

They killed the two guards Tarsem and Shamsuddin with sharp weapons and also killed the cook Mandal who had apparently woken up upon hearing the noise.

They then gained entry into Bawa's room, killed her, ransacked her room and fled with cash, jewellery and valuables worth Rs 25 lakh, Mr aulakh said.

Immediately after committing the crime they fled to Delhi in a taxi. While Bittu got off at Ambala and reached Bihar by changing routes, others took a train from Delhi to Saharasa, where they sold off some of the ornaments.

The Jalandhar police was initially probing the case. The case was however, handed over to Ludhiana SSP R K Jaiswal after no breakthrough could be made even after four months.

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