MOHALI: The body of senior journalist K J Singh, who was found murdered in his house in Mohali on Saturday, bore 14-16 stab wounds, according to the report of a panel of doctors who conducted post-mortem in Mohali civil hospital.
Mohali SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal said, "The way the crime has been executed shows it can only be the handiwork of professional killers. We have many vital clues in the case. Soon the criminals will be apprehended. We are not ruling out a contract killing."
"Apart from Singh's throat being slit, the body had 14-16 stab wounds, one right next to the heart. The fingers of the right hand were also slit and the crime might have occurred between midnight and 2am on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. His mother was strangled with a cloth soon after he was killed," one of the doctors said.
The house of murdered journalist K J Singh was ransacked and gold ornaments that his 92-year-old mother used to wear are missing, police said on Sunday.
Cops believe that professional killers are behind the crime.
Mohali SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal said, "The way the crime has been executed shows it can only be the handiwork of professional killers. We have many vital clues in the case. Soon the criminals will be apprehended. We are not ruling out a contract killing."
The family members said 64-year-old Singh, who used to live alone in the house with his ailing and aged mother, was wary of employing a fulltime maid or servant.
Police are collecting CCTV footage from the area to get clues about the arrival or departure of the accused. They will get the footage from showrooms behind the house, in the street, and routes leading out of the sector to trace the movement of the stolen vehicle.
A police officer said, We are looking for the repeaters in the streets except residents." Police have taken possession of the scribe's router, external hard disk, laptop and other gadgets in the house.
Police have found footprints in the wall of the garden next to the house. But the trail ends near the wall. Cops believe that the accused may have gained access from the garden, scaled the wall and kept the footwear in a bag, due to which there are, no signs of mud on the wall.
Call details
KJ Singh’s mobile phone, which the assailants took along, was switched on till around 9.15 pm on Friday. The last call, which lasted 280 seconds, was made by KJ Singh to his elder brother VP Singh at 7.27 pm on Friday. After that two messages from the service providers were received on KJ Singh’s mobile phone at 8.49 pm. Ajay Pal, nephew of KJ Singh (who had gone to give lunch to his uncle on Friday), claimed that he too had sent some jokes to his uncle around 9.15 pm the same day. “My messages were delivered to him but these were not seen. My uncle used to come online within 10 minutes normally but that wasn't the case on Friday,” said Ajay Pal. The police claimed that 14 phone calls were made/received by KJ Singh on Friday. “There was no call to/from any unknown person. Apart from the calls, the details of his phone showed some messages, most of which were sent by the service provider,” said the police. The mobile phone of Gurcharan Kaur, which was also taken away by the miscreants, was found switched off. The police said she received a call from her daughter around 12.15 pm on Friday.
CCTV footage
According to the police, they have procured the footage of two CCTV cameras so far. The police are waiting for a neighbour, who is out of station, to return to get the footage from a third CCTV camera. Sources said the footage of one of the cameras showed rain. “We are checking the movement of any vehicle or the Ford Ikon car which was taken away by the assailants after the crime,” said the sources, adding that they were hopeful of getting some vital information from the CCTV footage.
Cremation
KJ Singh and his mother were cremated around 1.30 pm at the Mohali cremation ground on Sunday. The last rites were performed by KJ Singh’s elder brother VP Singh. The Media Adviser of Capt Amarinder Singh expressed condolences to the family on behalf of the Chief Minister. Apart from close family members, a number of journalists from the tricity were present at the cremation ground. Earlier, the police handed over the bodies of the victims to the family after the postmortem around 12 noon.
KJ’s last chat with brother
According to family members, during his last chat on the phone with his elder brother VP Singh on Friday, KJ Singh talked about some person keeping an eye on his house for at least for "two and a half hours". “He (KJ) told him (VP Singh) that a person was keeping an eye on the house since 4 pm and remained there till he (KJ) locked the main gate around 6.30 pm,” said Yashpal Kaur, KJ Singh's younger sister. She said KJ Singh had also told her about somebody having thrown a thin but sharp iron rod in the house around 15 to 20 days ago. “He told me that when he came out to check, he found nobody there,” said Yashpal Kaur, adding that had her brother apprised the police of both incidents, the lives of her mother and brother could have been saved.
No clue of KJ's Ford Ikon
The police have no clue of KJ Singh’s green Ford Ikon car, which the miscreants took along after the crime. Mohali SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal said the police had no clue of his car. “The car is still untraceable,” said Chahal.
Gate lock mystery
While family members claimed that KJ Singh used to lock the gate of the house from inside around 6.30 pm every day, the police claimed that they found no lock on the gate. According to Rekha, the domestic help, she came around 9 am on Friday. She rung the door bell several times from outside the gate of the house, which was found closed.
Multiple stab injuries
According to the preliminary postmortem report, KJ Singh received multiple stab injuries, between 14 and 17, with some sharp weapons while his mother was strangled to death. According to a member of three-member medical board, which conducted the postmortem of the victims on Sunday, the victims seemed to have died between 2 am and 4 am. On multiple injuries on KJ Singh’s body, the doctor said one stab injury was close to his heart. “His throat was also slit. He was stabbed repeatedly in the chest and abdomen. Besides, three fingers of his right hand were also found cut. He had multiple cut marks on his arms, hands and other body parts,” said the doctor on condition of anonymity. The final report of the postmortem would be submitted to the police on Monday.
3 suspects seen in the locality
At least three criminals are suspected to be involved in the crime. An eyewitness saw three persons standing near the Ford Ikon car of KJ Singh around 9 pm on Friday, the day of the crime. The eyewitness told the police that one of them was smoking. The police are scrutinising the CCTV footage to get further clues in this regard.