Strangled with cable, changed bloodied clothes to cover tracks: Chilling details in Delhi’s Kailash Hills rape-murder

A22-year-old IIT graduate and UPSC wannabee was brutally raped and murdered in her due south new delhi abode on wed. The suspect, a former household employee, allegedly carried out a planned series of crimes across states and tried to use the victim’s fingerprints to open the family’s locker during a robbery.The accused, 23-year-old Rahul Meena, was intimately familiar with the family’s routine. Investigators revealed that Meena had been fired from his job at the upscale Kailash Hills residence two months ago due to his habit of borrowing money from neighbours to fund a gambling addiction.Chilling facts about the Kailash hills rape-murder caseThe hidden keyThat morning, Meena waited for the victim’s parents, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and a dentist, to leave for their daily gym session. Knowing the family’s security "loophole," he fetched a hidden smart key kept near a shoe rack and entered the fourth-floor apartment at 6:39 am.CCTV footage later showed him in the locality around 6:30 am and leaving around 7:15 am. He spent roughly 40 minutes inside.Strangled with cable, raped while unconsciousMeena found the victim studying in her room, according to police reports. When he demanded money, she refused and attempted to call her father."He said that he straightaway demanded money... She refused and asked him to leave," an officer said. "Before she could [call her father], he first pressed her throat, then used a charger wire to strangle her, and then attacked her with a water bottle and a lamp on her head."The woman lost consciousness. Meena then allegedly raped her while she was still alive but out cold. The postmortem and forensic analysis have corroborated sexual assault, alongside extensive physical injuries.Dragged across floors for fingerprintsMeena then dragged her body down a flight of stairs in an attempt to access a fingerprint-protected locker inside the house.He was aware that the locker could only be opened using the fingerprints of family members and allegedly tried to repeatedly press the victim’s fingers against the scanner to unlock it. When that failed, he broke open the locker using a heavy object. Changed bloodied clothes before escapeHe fled the scene with approximately ₹2 lakh in cash and ₹10 lakh worth of jewellery stuffed into a black backpack. Before leaving at 7:15 am, he changed out of his bloodstained clothes and shoes.Police later recovered most of the stolen property, out of which he spent about ₹7,000.The victim was found by her parents when they returned home around 8:00 am. The scene revealed signs of violent struggle.An autopsy at All India Institute of Medical Sciences found that the victim died of strangulation after a violent assault. She had injuries on her arms, hands, and legs, multiple injuries on her face including a broken nose, and serious damage to her neck, including a fractured thyroid cartilage. Doctors said she suffered extensive trauma.Another rape hours earlierHours earlier, on Tuesday night, Meena allegedly raped the wife of an acquaintance in Rajsthan’s Alwar. He then reportedly hid on a hill called ‘Kali Pahari’ for over two hours to evade angry villagers.Investigators said he later stole a bicycle, gatecrashed a wedding around 1 am to get food, took a lift on a motorcycle to reach a highway, and then hired a van at around 2 am.He reached Delhi by approximately 5:30 am. Police added that he sold a mobile phone for ₹10,000 to fund the journey and left the van driver without paying.‘Paise ke liye kiya’The accused was arrested from a hotel in Dwarka at around 8 pm on Wednesday. When produced before the Saket court, he told the magistrate that he committed the crime for money and needed the victim’s fingerprint to open the locker.“Galti hogayi. Maine paise ke liye kiya. Fingerprint chahiye tha locker kholne ke liye,” he said.The court clarified that the statement would not be treated as a formal confession.Judicial magistrate Deepika Thakran described the allegations as an “exceptionally serious and brutal crime” and granted four days of police custody for further investigation.Police have booked Meena under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for rape, murder, and robbery.