IIT-Delhi PhD student held for Naga girl's murder

NEW DELHI: In what appears to be a bloody retaliation for rejection, a 34-year-old PhD student of IIT-Delhi allegedly murdered and burnt a teenager who was his neighbour in Munirka, south Delhi, on Saturday. The victim, Ramchanphy Hongray, from Nagaland, was visiting her sister.

Hongray���s burnt body was discovered on Saturday evening and her neighbour, Pushpam Sinha, was arrested on Sunday. Initially, police thought it was a case of accidental death but the postmortem report revealed that the 19-year-old girl was strangled to death and burnt.

Sinha, who hails from Patna, had graduated from an engineering college in Allahabad and completed his MSc from IISc, Bangalore. He was doing PhD in wave mechanics from IIT-Delhi on a monthly scholarship of Rs 14,000.

Sinha reportedly told the cops he lived next door to Hongray and she had been rejecting his advances over the past few days. On Saturday afternoon, when she was alone at home, he entered the house and assaulted her.

When she resisted, he allegedly strangled her and then set her body on fire in the kitchen to remove evidence, police said.

A murder case has been registered in the Vasant Vihar station. Sinha will be produced in court on Monday.

The body of the girl has been handed over to the family.