7 yrs on, UT cops still clueless about Neha Ahlawat’s murder

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 27

The murder of Neha Ahlawat, which had shocked the entire city seven years ago, still remains shrouded in mystery. Neha, a 22-year-old college-going girl, a resident of Sector 38 (West), was found murdered at a short distance from her house on July 30, 2010. At that time, various police teams were constituted to investigate the case, but it still remains unsolved.

Neha’s body was found in a semi-naked condition from near a taxi stand in Sector 38 (West).

She had gone for coaching in Sector 15 and was returning home when the incident took place.

Her post-mortem report specified injuries on her private parts but could not confirm rape. However, in 2013, the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) report confirmed that Neha was raped before she was murdered.

The Sector 39 police questioned many people, however they failed to get any lead. Later, the case was transferred to the crime branch that grilled more than 150 suspects, including drug addicts, snatchers and her five close friends. Neha’s five friends also went through the brain-mapping test. However, they were given a clean chit from the Gandhinagar-based forensic lab.

The CFSL team had failed to collect blood samples and other evidence from the crime scene. The police always made excuses that due to heavy rain all fingerprints and blood samples got washed away from the scene, but rain started around 1am and Neha’s body was found at 11pm.

The DNA of the semen that was found on the victim’s clothes was preserved.

A former cop said the investigating team should have collected the blood samples of the addicts in that particular area and matched with the DNA sample that could have led to the identification of the accused”, the police official said claiming that the drug addicts were the prime suspects in the case.

The police had also received the report of blood samples of two of the suspects who were Neha’s friends. The DNA in both the blood samples did not match with the DNA of the semen found on Neha’s clothes.

The police had recently sent the finger prints found on Neha’s mobile phone to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) to check whether they matched with the finger prints of any criminal.The case is still under investigation at the crime branch, however, they have failed to make a headway in the case.