Infosys shocked over its woman techie’s murder in Pune

Bengaluru/Pune, Jan 30 (IANS) Software major Infosys on Monday expressed shock over the alleged murder of its woman techie -- a software engineer -- on its Pune campus on Sunday.

"We are saddened and shocked at this unfortunate incident and the loss of our colleague (K. Rasila Raju). Our prayers and sympathies are with our employee's family and friends," said the city-headquartered company in a statement.

Although the IT major declined to share details of the employee and the gruesome incident with the media, it said: "We are focused on assisting police in their investigation and providing all possible support to her family."

Pune police early Monday arrested security guard Bhaben Saikia, 26, in Mumbai for the alleged murder of the 25-year-old victim from Kozhikode district in Kerala, as he was trying to flee to his home state (Assam) by train.

A local court remanded him to police custody till February 4.

According to Ganesh Shinde, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP)-Hinjewadi, Pune, the suspect guard entered the company's ninth floor office building in the Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park at Hinjewadi around 5 p.m., and allegedly strangled her with a computer cord when she was working on a project, though it was her weekly off.

"The victim had objected to Saikia staring at her when she came out of her office and threatened to complain to his bosses," Shinde told reporters in Pune.

A complaint lodged with police by her team manager Abhijit Kothari revealed that Rasila had reported for work around 2.30 p.m. and was alone after another colleague left at 3 p.m.

The CCTV footage on the ninth floor showed that Rasila entered the room around 3.05 p.m., came out for a break around 5 p.m. and later Saikia followed her into the office, though he was not authorised to enter that area.

The outsourcing firm's software development centre in the Pune campus is its largest across the country with seating facility for 42,403 techies in over 7.3 million square feet area, followed by its Bengaluru campus with 39,654 seats in over 5.7 million square feet.

The global firm, including its subsidiaries, has 199,763 employees worldwide.

Rasila is the company's second victim of a murder seven months after another woman techie Swathi S., 24, was hacked to death allegedly by her stalker Ram Kumar, 24, at a suburban railway station in Chennai on June 24, 2016, when she was on way to office by a local train.