Payal Surekha murder case: Court convicts gym instructor

Team Udayavani, Nov 6, 2019, 4:35 PM IST

Bengaluru: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court on Wednesday convicted gym instructor James Kumar Roy for brutally murdering the 27-year-old techie Payal Surekha at her apartment in JP Nagar in 2010. The quantum of sentence will be announced on Thursday, November 7.

Surekha was found murdered in a flat in RBI Layout, JP Nagar 6th Phase, on December 17, 2010. S K Umesh, the then inspector of JP Nagar police station, had arrested Ray, stating that he held a grudge against Surekha as she had convinced her husband, who runs a gym in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, to sack him. Police claimed that Ray was working as an instructor at Mishra’s gym called ‘Cuts and Curves’ in Bhubaneswar.

According to the police, Mishra and Surekha were dating since 2005 while studying in Bengaluru. They married in 2008 and returned to Odisha. In 2010, they returned to Bengaluru after Surekha landed a job with Dell Inc and rented a serviced apartment in JP Nagar 6th Phase. The JP Nagar police’s case was that Ray, who was in Hyderabad at that time, had visited Surekha when she was alone, along with a common friend.

On December 17, when Mishra was in Odisha, Ray came to Bengaluru from Hyderabad and went straight to Surekha’s house. Unaware of his intentions, Surekha opened the door and as she was heading for her bedroom to fetch a dupatta, Ray followed her. He pounced on her and slit her throat with a knife. Later, he slashed her body, causing multiple wounds. The City police had got a DNA test conducted on the bloodstains and hair sample found on Ray’s jacket, which proved to be of Surekha.

On August 10, 2019, CBI had filed the charge sheet in the sensational murder of Payal Surekha by asserting that the killer was indeed James Kumar Ray, a gym instructor who was sacked from the job by the victim’s husband Anant Narayan Mishra and his parents.

The CBI has upheld the investigation conducted by the JP Nagar police and named Ray as the only accused in the case, said a senior officer. The charge sheet was filed before the 17th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court here. Surekha’s family had suspected Mishra in the murder. Her father, Deen Dayal Surekha, went to the Supreme Court which ordered a probe in March 2013.