Udayan nspired by film: Police .. film Devil's Knot inspired to murder his girl friend

ABHIJEET CHATTERJEE, TT, Bankura, Feb. 8: Udayan Das, accused of killing partner Akansha Sharma, is fond of movies based on crime and had watched the Hollywood film Devil's Knot twice on the day he carried out the murder, police sources said.

"He told us his plan was inspired by Devil's Knot. He said he loved to watch movies based on murder and other such crimes. He had recently watched Raees before his arrest," said Sukhendu Heera, the Bankura police chief who led the team interrogating Udayan.

Devil's Knot is a 2013 American crime film. The film is based on a true story concerning three teenagers convicted of killing three young boys.

The police have recovered the CD of Devil's Knot along with some other crime movies from Udayan's Bhopla house.

The sources said Udayan had told the interrogators that his friends in school used to taunt him for his dark complexion and he had confessed to beating up some of his classmates.

The youth's classmates in Bhopal had yesterday described him as a "bully" in school who was rusticated in Class VII for causing a serious head injury to one of them.

An investigating officer said the police were also probing whether money was the reason Udayan murdered Akansha. Udayan has also claimed to have murdered his parents in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

"We have learnt that Udayan had withdrawn a lumpsum amount using Akansha's card from several ATMs in Bhopal. He tried swindling the money from his father's account but could not. We are probing the money angle too," said an investigating officer.

Akansha's uncle Rajesh Singh had alleged two days ago that Udayan had withdrawn Rs 1.2 lakh from her bank account by using her debit card and had accused him of murdering her for money.

The police said Udayan was unemployed, had no source of income, was addicted to alcohol and possibly used some drugs.

"He must have needed money to meet his demands. He was unemployed with no source of income. We also have not found anybody who used to help him with money," said the investigating officer.

Udayan, however, stuck to his claim that he had killed Akansha suspecting her of having an affair with another person.

The police found numbers of a dozen women in his mobile phone with whom he used to speak frequently after murdering Akansha. "We will contact them to know what kind of relation they were having with Udayan," the officer said.

The police are also looking for the mason who constructed the marble topped tomb at Udayan's Bhopal residence to record his statement.

"Udayan did not construct the tomb alone and so he definitely hired a mason. We are trying to locate him to record his statement. It would be evidential for us," said the officer.

Udayan today woke up around 8am at the police lockup and had tea and biscuits.

"Most of time during interrogations he either remained silent or was seen biting his nails. Sometimes he asked us who we were to question him," said a police officer who interrogated him last night.