Robbery bid turns fatal as Bengaluru cabbie bludgeons Kolkata model

The body of Pooja Singh Dey, a 24-year-old model cum event manager, was found with stab wounds and a smashed head on an isolated road near the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on August 1.

She was scheduled to catch a flight back to Kolkata after a day’s trip to Bengaluru, but couldn’t. While her husband Saudeep Dey and parents were waiting for her to return, Pooja was lying dead in a pool of blood instead, robbed of the valuables she was carrying.

Prior to meeting her fate on July 31, Pooja had booked an Ola cab to airport around 4 am from a hotel on the Hosur road, where she was staying, said reports. HM Nagesh, a 22-year-old cab driver, picked her up from hotel and started the journey towards the airport, but it ended somewhere else.

Nagesh needed money to pay off his car loan that his brother had bought for him. He had also reportedly bought a knife recently, with an intent to rob someone to help pay the loans. And, right when he was waiting for his victim, Pooja boarded his cab.

As per reports, Nagesh drove till the McDonalds on the airport road, from where he took an U-turn towards Shettykere. Finding a lone woman in his cab early in the morning on an isolated road with no security cameras around, he found his best chance at attempting a robbery.

At first, the Deccan Herald reported, Nagesh hit her with a jack rod, leaving her unconscious, after she refused to give him money midway. He could find only ₹500 in her pocket and two mobile phones from her possession.

When he tried to get rid of her and drove towards an isolated road, Pooja regained consciousness and tried to escape. This infuriated Nagesh, who pinned her down, stabbed her multiple times and smashed her head with a stone. And, he escaped.

After two hours, her body was found with multiple injuries on her head, chest, abdomen and throat. The police was informed and soon special teams were formed to nab the accused.

Now, the first challenging part of the investigation was identifying the victim. Observing the deceased’s facial features, the report said, the police concluded she could be from West Bengal or other northern states. Soon, two teams were sent to Delhi and Kolkata to check the missing cases there.

Incidentally, one of the teams, which went to Kolkata, came across a missing complaint at the New Town Police Station, which matched the features of the victim. The missing person’s family was soon informed and summoned to Bengaluru to identify the body.

Pooja’s husband Saudeep identified her body with her tattoo and a Titan watch that she was wearing.

Now, the second part of the investigation — finding the culprit — became easier when the police went through Pooja’s mails, which revealed the details of the Ola cab she had booked.

Subsequently, the police picked up the driver, Nagesh, for questioning and also recovered one of her phones from his car. During the interrogation, the driver confessed that he killed her for money.

The victim’s belongings, including an iPhone, was later recovered and Nagesh was remanded to judicial custody.