Man Arrested For Woman’s Murder Hangs Himself in Lockup
The 40-year-old housekeeping staffer, Vikram Atwal, who allegedly murdered air hostess Rupal Ogrey at her Marol flat in Mumbai died by suicide in a police lock-up.
Rupal Ogrey (25) was found dead with her throat slit on 3rd September night in a rented flat in Marol area of Andheri. Vikram Atwal (40), who was doing housekeeping work over the last one year in the residential society where the victim lived, was arrested on 4th September on the charge of killing her. Let me tell you why and how he killed Rupal. Rupal was a trainee flight attendant and had moved to the city six months ago from Raipur, Chhattisgarh. She lived in the third-floor rented accommodation with her elder sister and a friend. Three days ago, her sister and friend had left for their hometown. Rupal last spoke to her family on 3rd September morning, but in the course of the day when they tried to get in touch with her, their calls went unanswered. They then reached out to her friends in the city, asking them to check on her. “When they arrived at her house around 9.30pm, they found the door closed from inside. There was no response to repeated knocking and the doorbell, whereupon they sought the help of a security guard to break open the door.” When they saw the body of the victim lying in a pool of blood in the bathroom, they reported the matter to the local police.
Eight teams were formed immediately. After a thorough technical investigation and several interviews, the police narrowed down the list of suspects until they reached the accused -- 40-year-old Atwal. The wife of the accused also works in the housekeeping department of the building. The couple has two daughters, one of them a teen. When the investigating team arrived at Atwal’s residence Andheri, they found him in a blood-soaked shirt, with visible injury marks over his hands and face, indicating a prior scuffle between him and the deceased. He was arrested within 14 hours after the crime was reported. Atwal during interrogation told the cops that Rupal “yelled” at him two days before the crime, that is on 1st September, for not doing his job properly. Holding on a grudge, and knowing she lived alone, he confessed in the court that he intended to rape her, and carried the knife to intimidate her. Atwal had gained entry under the pretext of cleaning work. Knowing that she was alone, Atval allegedly forced himself on her and even pointed the knife to threaten her.
Rupal’s strong resistance did not allow him to do what he planned, instead sustained injuries and bruises after Rupal fought back. During the scuffle, when Rupal tried to run towards the main door to seek help, he slashed her neck with the knife. Atwal dragged her body to the bathroom, cleaned up the crime spot and ran away to his house. A local court had remanded him in police custody till 8th September 2023. On his first day in police custody, Atval was taken to the crime spot to recreate the sequence and find the missing weapon he used to slit the victim’s neck. He showed the cops the spot, which was behind a tree, outside the victim’s building. A long straight knife was recovered, which would be used as evidence.
Now in an update, Atval, who was kept at Andheri police station’s lock-up, allegedly died by suicide inside the police lock-up on 8th September morning. The matter surfaced when the guards of the jail were making rounds. They allegedly found him hanging inside by the ceiling. He had used his own pants to hang himself.
8th September was his last day in police custody for Atval. Police had informed the court that Atval would be sent for medical examination – to examine the scratch and injury marks found in his body. This was to rule out the possibility of sexual assault or rape from the matter completely. Rupal Ogrey’s preliminary medical examination, no signs of rape or sexual assault was found. Yet, the doctors of Rajawadi Hospital have yet to release the complete postmortem report. Meanwhile, Rupal’s family members, after the postmortem, took the body back to Chattisgarh for final rites.
