The Hindu : New Delhi News : “Real motive is key to cracking murder case” Law & order

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Saturday, Jun 14, 2008
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“Real motive is key to cracking murder case” Law & order

The crime scene holds vital clues, observes
Devesh K. Pandey

The delay in cracking the double murder case of young Aarushi Talwar and the family’s domestic help Hemraj in Noida has been attributed to a lack of knowledge about the real motive behind the gruesome crime. To zero in on the perpetrators, establishing the motive for the crime is of paramount importance.

Apart from crimes committed by chance or sudden provocation or for that matter by a person suffering from a mental health problem, there is always a motive for such an offence, particularly in a murder case. “The motive is key to establishing the identity of the perpetrator,” says a senior police officer, adding that keeping this pivotal aspect in mind the pursuit for discovering the motive should begin from the crime scene.

The crime scene holds vital clues (evidence) that could connect the offence to the perpetrator. The very condition of the crime scene gives ample indications of what the intention of the criminal was.

For instance, valuables missing from the house of a person found killed could indicate that the murder had been committed with robbery as motive.

In several cases where the police have failed to get a confession from the perpetrator despite having a reasonable suspicion about his/her involvement, they have managed a breakthrough by investigating the background and movement of the suspect, through physical and electronic surveillance and also questioning the relatives and acquaintances. In the recent Kalkaji businessman murder case, the police interrogated the suspect – brother-in-law of the victim – for three days but could not extract information from him. The day the Special Cell zeroed in on the contract killers allegedly hired by him and confronted him with the evidence, he purportedly confessed to his crime.

“While investigating a murder case, one can also start by trying to find out who would benefit most from the victim’s death,” said a police officer.

Although psychologists are normally not involved in investigations in this country, on several occasions it has been found that they can be of immense help in establishing the motive behind the crime and can also lead to identification of the culprit.

Prominent mental health expert Rajat Mitra, who has been part of investigations in several cases handled by the Delhi police, says investigation is all about solving the equation of “How+Why = Who”.

“Each of the three components of the equation is behavioural in nature. Each of them has to be further broken down to find out what could be the behaviour of the perpetrator and the victim, what transpired between them, and what happened before and after the crime,” says Dr. Mitra.

In the absence of an eyewitness, the nature of injuries inflicted on the victim can also help prepare the psychological profile of the perpetrator and the nature of his relationship with the victim.

“An overall consideration of the modus operandi employed and the psychological profile can lead the police to the person involved,” says Dr. Mitra, adding that scientific tools prove to be of great help in cracking even cases that initially appear very complex.

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