Indian citizen in Maldives under assumed name after confessing to murder; police probe case
Tanya Banerjee was stabbed to death in July 2006
Officers escort Gururaj Kishore out of police station
Maldives Police Service (MPS) has launched an investigation into a case of an Indian citizen, confessed to having killed a woman, living in Addu City under an assumed name.
The matter is being investigated by the police’s Addu City station, which has confirmed that an investigation has been launched into a foreigner, but had opted not to reveal any further details.
However, the city’s news outlet “AO News” reported the police is investigating a man named Gururaj Kishore, an individual who had confessed to killing a woman back in 2006.
It reported that Kishore had arrived in the Maldives in 2014, as Baasker Srivesta, to work at the lab at the International Medical and Diagnostic Centre (IMDC) in Hithadhoo of Addu. He had transferred to Feydhoo’s Aims Diagnostic Centre in 2016.
Citing an official from IMDC, AO News said that Baasker Srivesta, or Gururaj Kishore, was selected and brought as per the laws, after completing required process with the authorities. The official added that he was transferred to Aims Diagnostic Centre, as per his request.
According to Indian news outlets, Gururaj Kishore- then 27- had confessed to stabbing 32-year-old Tanya Banerjee, “when she backtracked on her commitment to marry him”.
Kishore was picked up by police for interrogation the day after the murder, and had “confessed to having committed the crime in Bangalore after picking her from the office” on July 25, 2006 and had dumped her body in the Sakleshpura police station limits. They had reportedly had an argument over Tanya’s “ways” with Kishore telling her “to mend her ways”.
Through the investigation, authorities had learnt that Tanya had been arrested from a south Kolkata apartment in August 2005, in connection with a call girl racket. While she, along with another girl, was charged under Immoral Trafficking Act and released on bail, her father, Kalidas Banerjee, is reported to have said that she had worked there for “fun”.
Kishore had attempted to hide the evidence, and had even sent an SMS from Tanya’s mobile phone to her friends, saying that she was going to Kolkata, according to then Commissioner of Police Neelam Achuta Rao.
According to post-mortem reports, Tanya was stabbed 35 times, with 14 directed towards her chest, hips and stomach.
Before shifting to the BPO sector, Kishore had worked as a laboratory assistant in some hospitals in the Kolkata City.
It is unclear on how Gururaj Kishore, or Baasker Srivesta evaded the Indian authorities and traveled to Maldives under an assumed name, despite being charged with murder.
RaajjeMV is working to obtain further details on the matter, with the assistance of the Bengaluru police.
