Throat slit, student found dead

Bangalore, April 12: A 19-year-old student was found dead with her throat slit at her house in Pai Layout, Mahadevapura, on Wednesday evening.

Police have identified the dead as Monica Ravi Srivastav, a second semester BCom student of Bangalore City College, Kalyan Nagar, Banasawadi. The incident came to light when her sister returned home from office at 6:30 pm.

Anjali Ravi Srivastav, her sister, is a sub-editor with a quarterly magazine. The two hailed from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh and had come to Bangalore four years ago. They had been living in Pai Layout since January 26, 2012.

Monica had called her sister around 1:30 pm on Wednesday and told her that she had performed well in the English language exam held on the day. However, when Anjali repeatedly called her at 3:00 pm, she didn’t answer the call.

Anjali thought that her sister was asleep. She was alarmed when Monica neither answered the calls nor opened the door when she returned home.

She broke open the door with the help of five men staying on the second floor of the house and found her sister lying in a pool of blood.

Police sources said there was only one slit wound on the throat, but was so deep that even oesophagus was slit. Police suspect the use of glass pane as a weapon.

The main door, with self locking system, was locked from inside with no signs of forced entry into the house, they said.

Police suspect the involvement of a known person in the murder. Interestingly, the neighbours who had reportedly heard some noise around 1:30 in the afternoon said they did not hear the barking of the pet dog of the sisters.

Forensic experts suspect the involvement of a person, who might have entered the house along with the victim, in the act.

Sources confirmed that there was no evidence of struggle or sexual abuse. Police also rule out murder for gain, as they haven’t been able to detect loss of valuables from the crime scene.

The motive of the murder is yet to be established. It is speculated that some old rivalry or relationship issues may be the cause.