No headway in case 15 days later, loot as motive ruled out
POLICE OFFICIALS INVESTIGATING THE CASE SAID THAT ALL AVAILABLE CCTV FOOTAGE WAS BEING MINUTELY SCANNED TO IDENTIFY SUSPECTS.
PRAYAGRAJ: Some 15 days after the murder of Iram Hamid Siddiqui in the Chandrashekhar Azad Park, police have ruled out loot as a motive behind the murder. However, police have failed to either crack the murder or even get leads till now.
Police claim that Iram was neither wearing any ornaments nor had she any valuables with her at the time of the incident.
Iram Hamid Siddiqui, a resident of Malviya Nagar area, was found dead close to the Mazaar inside the park on the morning of May 13. The post-mortem examination report revealed that Siddiqui was assaulted multiple times with a stone on her head which resulted in her death on the spot.
Siddiqui had gone to drop her son at school with her brotherin-law in the morning. Iram’s son is a lower KG student at Saint Joseph’s College opposite Chandrashekhar Azad Park. Iram’s brother-in-law returned home while Iram went to the park for a walk.
Police officials investigating the case said that all available CCTV footage was being minutely scanned to identify suspects. On the basis of footage and other inputs, over a dozen suspects were rounded up for questioning but no leads could be obtained from them.
Moreover, drug addicts in the area were also rounded up but none could give any clues about the assailants.
SHO, Colonelganj police station, Ram Mohan Rai, said Siddiqui’s body was lying inside the Mazaar premises close to the grave. Questioning has revealed that no one usually enters the place where her body was found.
The stone used for assaulting her was used to cover the mud pot of water in the Mazaar. It is possible that the assailant was present inside the Mazaar premises when Siddiqui reached there. However, the reason for her entry inside is still not clear.
Circumstances suggest that the assailant was not new to the place and was fully aware of the routes by which he could escape unnoticed.
Possibilities of assault on Siddiqui for resisting harassment or eve teasing can also not be ruled out, police officials added.
The family does not have any enmities and has not raised suspicions against anyone yet, the officer added.
Officials said that the caretaker of the Mazaar is one of the suspects and his statement is being verified through other sources. The caretaker claimed that he arrived at the spot at around 10 am and found the body following which he raised an alarm.
He is being questioned to learn about other visitors to the Mazaar who used to come there early in the morning.
Police have also appealed to park visitors to come forward and inform the police if they have noticed any suspicious person roaming around before or on May 13.