Man held for plotting techie's murder, his friend under lens

A 24-year-old man from Bengaluru has been arrested in connection with the brutal murder of a young woman IT professional here last week with police claiming unrequited love was the reason behind the crime.
Another youth, who police suspect was roped in by the accused to carry out the crime, is also being questioned.
Pune police said Santosh Kumar Gupta meticulously planned the killing of Antara Das, who was working with an IT major here. He was detained earlier after the deceased woman's parents expressed suspicion that he might be stalking her and was arrested last night on charges of murder and conspiracy.

Gupta originally hails from Ara district in Bihar.
Das was attacked with a sharp weapon near Kanbay Chowk in Talawade on the city outskirts on Friday night, barely 500 metres from her workplace. She was declared dead upon arrival in a hospital.
The alleged role of another youth, believed to be Gupta's friend, is emerging in the murder as the police suspect he was tasked to keep an eye on Antara by Gupta who wanted to be sure that there is no other person in her life.

Gupta, accused of conspiracy, was produced before a local court, which remanded him in police custody till January 4.

"During investigation, it was revealed that Santosh Kumar Gupta had very smartly planned the murder. The accused claimed that he was present in Bengaluru on the day of the incident," Additional Superintendent of Police Rajkumar Shinde said.
Police said Gupta met Antara in Bengaluru and after she shifted to Pune, he started harassing her by sending messages. Gupta was forcing her to enter a relationship with him.
As Antara blocked his number, he started calling her from other phones and kept on harassing her.
"There are messages between them which showed that Kumar was forcing her to have a relationship with him. However, she was non-responsive and even reprimanded him for harassing her," Shinde said.

While seeking Gupta's remand, the prosecution said the police are yet to ascertain who killed Antara and that sim cards and mobile phones used by the accused in hatching the plot are yet to be recovered.
Police said Gupta's 'friend', who was keeping an aye on
Antara, later started stalking and harassing her, following which she complained to Gupta who told her to ignore it.
A senior officer said another youth's mobile tower location shows that he was in the vicinity of the crime spot on the day of the incident.
"The mobile tower location of the another person shows that he was in the vicinity of the crime spot on the day of the incident," he said, adding police are interrogating him as a suspect.

He said when Antara came to Pune in April, Gupta introduced her to his friend who later started monitoring her movements on the instructions of Gupta.
"Gupta, who too works in an IT firm in Bengaluru later started harassing her and expressed to take the relation to the next level. However, Antara remained non-responsive and told him that they are only friends," the officer said.
Police said Gupta had helped the techie in Bengaluru and Pune when she was looking for accommodation.
"However, she later started blocking Gupta's calls and even blocked him on the social media. She even complained to his sister and parents that Gupta was harassing her," said the officer.

He said the last conversation between Gupta and Antara took place on November 21.
Meanwhile, Gupta has denied his role in the murder and told police he had no reason to do so as he was in love with Antara.
"When our team had reached Bengaluru, Gupta provided the CCTV footage claiming he was in Bengaluru on the day of the incident," he said, adding Gupta was arrested on the basis of digital and technical evidence.