A day after a 26-year-old security guard was nabbed in connection with the horrendous murder of 23-year-old K Rasila Raju, a woman IT professional from Infosys who was found dead in a conference room of the company, the victim’s family have come out strongly against her employers alleging neglect and inaction.
From their alleged failure to act on a complaint by her against the accused in the case to raising questions on Rasila’s presence in office on a holiday, the distraught family has levelled serious allegations against Infosys, one of India’s leading tech employers.
According to a Hindustan Times report, Rasila was working in her ninth-floor office on an off day when the watchman allegedly approached her on the pretext of fixing a computer cable and later murdered her.
The 26-year-old accused, identified as Bhaben Saikia from Assam, was arrested from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus at Mumbai early on Monday while attempting to flee.
“Entry into the office is restricted and Saikia could enter the office only because he followed Rasila, who gained access using a swipe card, to her workstation on the pretext of fixing the LAN cable and noting down her computer’s serial number,” Hindustan Times quoted deputy commissioner of police Ganesh Shinde as saying.
He added that the guard’s presence made Rasila uncomfortable who even warned that she would complain against him for stalking her.
Saikia then asked Rasila not to complain against him for “staring” at her the previous day, said Shinde.
“When she refused to back off leading to an argument, he pulled out the cable and strangulated her in a fit of rage. The guard also hit her face with his shoes, injuring her nose,” he added.
According to the report, there was no one in the office on the ninth of the Infosys facility as it was Sunday. As there was no CCTV camera installed near her workstation, the police zeroed in on Saikia based on the last-seen theory by gathering footage from other CCTV cameras.
“The CCTV footage showed Saikia was the last person entering Rasila’s section of the office. When we tried to trace him, his mobile location showed he was on the way to Mumbai,” said Shinde.
After killing Rasila at around 5pm, Saikia stayed in the campus till his shift was over by around 6:30pm. His colleagues said that “there was no stress showing on his face”.
On the other hand, Rasila’s family members claimed that she had approached the company’s authorities to complain about Saikia’s advances but no action was taken against him.
"We will file a complaint for a detailed inquiry into Rasila's death. Earlier, while making calls here she had mentioned about the same security guard making advances towards her. Though she had complained to the company officials no action had been taken," said her maternal uncle Manoj.
The family also accused Infosys of security lapses, asking why a female guard was not on duty when a woman employee was working alone in the office.
“They called my daughter to the office on Sunday which was her weekly off,” said her father.
Police too have decided to seek an explanation from Infosys about the security slip.
Pune police commissioner Rashmi Shukla said: “Why didn’t Infosys depute a female security staff when they knew that a woman engineer was working alone on a weekend? Why was Rasila called for the evening shift when there was no one in her section?”
