3 Infosys techies held in Neelima case

In a major breakthrough in Infosys employee Neelima Yeruva’s death case, Raidurgam police reportedly took three employees of the IT major into custody late Thursday night. The trio are being interrogated in connection with the death of the techie who had fallen from the multi-level parking on Tuesday night.

It is said that police took the trio into custody after verifying the CCTV footage at the parking lot and exit gate of the company. The police, however, refused to confirm the details.

Meanwhile, the case continued to be shrouded in mystery as the preliminary post-mortem report failed to conclusively say if Neelima had committed suicide or she was pushed to death at the company’s Gachibowli campus. The investigators have now sent samples for Viscera test, the report of which would take at least a month.

Neelima’s family members, however,  continued to allege foul play in the entire incident though they refrained from openly pointing fingers at anybody.

Sources associated with the investigation told Express that they are still clueless as to why Neelima had gone to the parking lot and whom did she meet there. “We spoke to several employees and enquired with the security staff as to why she had gone to the parking lot when she did not come by car. The possibility is that someone known to her could have promised to drop her home. We believe that a heated argument could have taken place between them after which she was possibly chased. But the big question is whether she was pushed or she jumped to death,” investigators said, adding that they are verifying the CCTV footages and in one such footage she is spotted in the parking lot. 

“There are no more CCTVs in the other floors of the multi-level parking and therefore, it is difficult to say what happened subsequently,” they said.

The other question baffling the sleuths is the reason behind the family’s allegation of murder. “They allege it is murder. But when they say so, they should have some basis for it. So far, they have not disclosed anything except for the fact that some scratch marks were found on her neck,” sources said.

Among other possibilities that the sleuths are probing is whether there was any marital discord between Neelima and her husband Suresh Reddy.

“For the last few days, she was staying at her mother’s place and this aspect has to be probed. We cannot say anything conclusively as of now,” a police officer said.

Another aspect which has now come to light is that though the police had initially claimed Neelima had booked her ticket to USA and was to leave in the next few days, she had actually put out an advertisement renting out her accommodation in Tampa, Florida. “She was staying in a two-bedroom flat there and had given an advertisement to rent one of the rooms in that house. Another Infosys employee was already staying in the other room. Therefore we are not sure whether she planned to return to USA or not,” sources said.

Meanwhile, the postmortem report found that Neelima had died due to serious injuries due to the fall from the building. The 27-year-old   had been sent to the US by her employer one-and-half years ago.

She had returned to the city on leave on July 21. She completed her Intermediate education in Nalanda Junior College, Visakhapatnam and Engineering course in Shadan women college of Engineering and Technology in Hyderabad in 2006.