IIT alumnus kills sister, tries to end life

PUNE: A 29-year-old IIT-Kharagpur alumnus allegedly throttled his 23-year-old sister to death and attempted to commit suicide by slashing his wrist and consuming phenyl at their rented apartment at Bavdhan in the early hours of Wednesday.

The Hinjewadi police said the accused, Subhojit Basu, an engineer, then called up his former professor at IIT-Kharagpur and told him what he had done. The professor, Aurobindo Roy, managed to contact the police control room here around 4 am and gave Basu's address.

"When we reached the apartment, we found the door open and Basu sobbing near his sister, Priyadarshani, who lay unconscious on the floor," said sub-inspector A S Wanjari of the Hinjewadi police station. The police shifted both to Sassoon hospital, where Priyadarshani was declared dead on arrival.

The police have booked Basu under sections 302 (murder) and 309 (attempting suicide) of the Indian Penal Code. Deputy commissioner of police (zone-III) Mahesh Patil told TOI that Basu owns a start-up at the National Chemical Laboratory's (NCL) Innovation Park at Pashan while Priyadarshani was working with Greenpeace India Society's Pune office located on Paud road.

The police are yet to establish the motive behind the murder as Basu has not been revealing much during questioning.