'Devil's Knot' choked Akansha to death

Udayan Das the Bhopal killer being produced in Bankura court. Photo: Kamalendu Bhadra.

Dwaipayan Ghosh, | TNN | Updated: Feb 9, 2017, BANKURA: Alleged serial killer Udayan Das who reportedly murdered his parents and live-in partner -had been visiting Rajasthan and Delhi since 2012 to meet Akansha Sharma. According to call record details obtained by Bankura police, Sharma too had visited Bhopal on a number of occasions. Udayan had even marked these "occasions" on the calendar with red ink. Police claim that this revelation was enough to raise questions on the motive of the murder.

Police said that his plan to kill Akansha wasn't on the spur of the moment. "Udayan was addicted to crime thrillers. He had watched the 2013 film `Devil's Knot' several times before deciding to apply the same methodology while murdering Akansha," said SP (Bankura) Sukhendu Hira.

"The claim by Udayan that he had killed Akansha after he found that she was still talking to her former boyfriends holds little ground. The call record details and messages sent from Akansha's mobile before June 29, 2016 -the day she supposedly shifted to Bhopal's Saketnagar with Udayan -does not show the existence of any secret admirer thus far," said an officer. Udayan was questioned for over four hours on both Tuesday and Wednesday evening at the SP's office.

Police say there was a complex world that Udayan had created for himself where he would spend lavishly and would not care for anyone but himself. "Udayan believed that the only way he could stop his parents and the outside world from rebuking him was to get rich at any cost," explained an officer.

It was this mentality that led him to create over 110 fake email and Facebook accounts. "He would note down the email IDs and passwords and then use them to comment on his own posts. He even posted likes from different accounts just to portray that he was successful and accepted in life," said a source.

For most part of Wednesay , though, Udayan remained unfazed by the continuous questioning. "He did not break down even once during interrogation. He tried to lead us astray saying he would love to complete his higher studies," a source said, adding: "He ate egg curry rice with shukto, pumpkin curry and even dal."

He has also refused to speak to anyone at the Bankura Sadar police station other than senior officers.

Police now have evidence that shows Udayan had become restless for the two years after he began running out of the money he had gained by selling his Raipur residence. "He knew that his father had kept Rs 8 lakh as fixed deposit. He tried to call the bank manager at Raipur and even shifted his father's accounts to Bhopal. But the bank kept denying him the money . We suspect it was around this time that he convinced Akansha to transfer her money to him by bringing her to Bhopal. "The fact that of the Rs 1.20 lakh kept in the account only Rs 9 remained shows that Udayan had managed to access her account. The murder for gain theory thus finds much more credence," an officer said.