The Hindu : New Delhi News : Pushkin case far from over yet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Pushkin case far from over yet

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 23. With no concrete clues in hand and several theories still doing the rounds, it seems the police will take some more time before cracking the mystery behind the murder of Pushkin Chandra and his friend, Kuldip.

However, with the present body of evidence indicating that the accused may be from North or Central Delhi, the police in these two districts have also been asked to assist the South Delhi police team in tracing the culprits.

After the discovery of Pushkin's Opel Corsa car which had been missing since the incident came to light, near Patoudi House in North Delhi on the night of August 20, the police had hoped that they would be able to zero-in on a particular line of investigation.

While the police did pick up about a dozen fingerprints from the car and some articles which apparently belonged to Pushkin, they are still far from ascertaining the motive of the crime

As of now, police officials say robbery could be a secondary motive. However, it is not yet clear if the assailants actually wanted to sell the car. They have reportedly picked up a person who had seen the suspects parking the car from where it was recovered. The suspects had told him that they would return in about an hour. It could be possible that they wanted to abandon the car and escape.

The police are now veering towards the theory that the murder could be a result of provocation.

The scrutiny of Pushkin's lifestyle has so far indicated that he used to pick up men from an economic background much lower than his, Kuldip being one of them. The police said such people could easily be tempted with promises of a "good life" including wine and good food.

However, not all of them may have intended or expected to enter into acts of orgy, which were depicted in graphic details in the video compact discs recovered from Pushkin's house. Therefore, the police believe that the assailants may have reacted violently when an attempt was made to force them perform such acts.

Moreover, police officials said, if they had planned to kill and rob Pushkin, they could well have come armed with their own knives rather than use kitchen knives.

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