Krishnanagar, Aug. 26: The police manhunt for Deshraj Singh, the estranged fiancé accused of murdering 18-year-old Ishita Mullick, has intensified after an autopsy confirmed he fired three shots at the victim from close range during a scuffle inside her bedroom on Monday.
According to the report from Nadia District Hospital, two bullets pierced the right side of Ishita’s head, while the third lodged fatally in the middle. More than 24 hours after the calculated attack, Deshraj, a former classmate of Ishita from Kendriya Vidyalaya, remains untraceable, prompting police to expand their search beyond Bengal. Sleuths suspect the manner of the execution-style killing—perpetrated by a youth who had barely cleared his Class XII exams—points to a strong, deliberate resolve to murder the girl, who was reportedly trying to end their relationship.
In a key development, investigators contacted Deshraj’s father, Raghubendra Pratap Singh, a former NDRF personnel now serving with the BSF in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. The father disclosed that his son had expressed a desire to return to their hometown in Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, and that he had sent Deshraj a reserved train ticket for the Purvanchal Express departing from Naihati on August 24. “On the day, Deshraj called me and said, ‘Papa, I had caught the train.’ After that, due to being busy, I could not even contact him. I was later told by police that he killed a girl on August 25,” Singh told reporters over the phone, adding he had “no idea about the girl.”
Police have since confirmed that Deshraj never boarded the train on August 24, despite telling his father he had. Investigators now suspect Deshraj may have originally planned the murder for that day but changed his mind since it was a public holiday and other family members would have been at home, potentially obstructing him.
On the day of the murder, Deshraj, who hails from Uttar Pradesh and was living in a rented house in Jethia-Dharampur with his mother, came to Ishita’s Manikpara residence in Krishnanagar and allegedly fired three rounds at her before fleeing. Scanning his mobile phone records, investigators discovered that immediately after the crime, Deshraj had contacted some friends seeking shelter, but they all refused to help him. Following these failed attempts, he switched off his phone and vanished.
Police have not ruled out the possibility of his escape to Nepal and are dispatching a specialized team to his hometown in the Gorakhpur district to track his movements. Separately, his father claimed Deshraj had told him he had taken admission to a Krishnanagar-based college and often visited the town for studies, a claim officers are still working to verify.
Senior police officials, including Additional SP Makwana Meetkumar Sanjaykumar, visited the crime scene on Tuesday to collect evidence and assured the grieving family of justice, stating, “We have got certain clues which cannot be disclosed at this moment for the sake of investigation.”
The Barrackpore Commissionerate has begun scanning CCTV footage to track Deshraj’s recent movements. A police team also visited the Jethia-Dharampur area and spoke to local residents, who corroborated investigators’ findings, describing Deshraj’s aggressive and abusive behavior. Furthermore, authorities at Kendriya Vidyalaya in Kanchrapara confirmed that Deshraj had been cautioned multiple times for his conduct while he was a student there.
The murder has meanwhile amplified public concern over rising gun-related incidents in Krishnanagar, though senior officers maintain there is no reason for panic and has assured residents that all efforts are being made to maintain safety.