Police investigation into the shocking murder of Surbhi Raj, director of the Asia Hospital, inside her office in Patna has reportedly revealed her husband’s love affair as a possible reason behind her murder. Surbhi Raj, who was the co-director of a private hospital named Asia Hospital, was shot dead on Saturday (22nd March) afternoon inside her office by an unidentified assailant. Raj was shot six times.
Police arrested five persons, including her husband Rakesh Roshan and his brother Atul, on Tuesday (25th March) in connection with her murder. “The accused include her husband, Rakesh Roshan, his younger brother Atul, and three hospital staff members, one of whom is a woman,” ASP Patna City-1 Atulesh Jha said. The staff members are Anil Kumar (30), and Masood Alam (34).
Surbhi opposed her husband’s affair with the hospital HR
According to reports, Raj has recently got involved in managing the hospital and has found some financial irregularities. Besides, police investigation revealed that Surbhi and her husband, who have 2 sons, had strained relations due to the latter’s alleged affair with 30-year-old Alka, who was working as an HR at the Hospital. Alka was reportedly married but had separated from her husband.
“Hospital HR Alka and Rakesh Roshan were having an affair. Roshan was having a dispute with Surabhi for the last one and a half months regarding this. After 3 days of investigation, 5 people, including Roshan, have been arrested. Their narco test will also be done. Permission will be sought from the court for this. They will be interrogated after taking them on remand. Roshan and Masood have an important role in plotting the conspiracy and destroying evidence,” SSP Patna Avkash Kumar said.
“We have enough evidence. But we need to know the answers to many more questions about the conspiracy. Therefore, first of all, we will appeal to the court to conduct a narco test of Masood. Surabhi was murdered between 1.30 and 2.15 pm that day. At the time of the murder, the husband was not present at the spot, but the other 4 people, including the brother-in-law, were present at the spot,” the SSP added.
CCTV cameras were turned off 20 days before the murder
As per the police investigation, the victim’s husband had planned her murder and had turned off the hospital CCTV cameras 20 days before. Police suspected internal involvement in the doctor’s murder after the hospital staff denied hearing any gunshots on the day of the incident. Besides, the hospital staff allegedly tried to clean the blood stains from the spot before the police arrived. ASP Jha said that six bullet casings were recovered from the crime scene. A laptop and multiple SIM cards were among the things recovered by the police from the place. Surbhi’s bullet-riddled mobile phone was found in her husband’s possession.
The incident is said to have occurred in the afternoon after Surbhi’s husband dropped her off at the hospital. Her husband said that he left for a meeting before he was informed about the shooting. No one at the hospital saw the assailant who fled after shooting her. One of the hospital staff reportedly sensed that someone was in Surbhi’s office. When they went to check, Surbhi was found lying on the floor. She was taken to AIIMS Patna, where she was declared brought dead. The hospital staff informed the police about the incident.
Police are also suspecting physical assault before the murder as Surbhi Raj’s face was swollen and several injury marks were found on her body.
What Dr Surbhi’s father said
Surbhi’s father said she left around 11 am on the day of the incident with her husband and children. He received a call from his son-in-law around 3 pm, who informed him that Surbhi had fainted. “She left with her husband and children at 11 o’clock. I left the house at 2 o’clock. At 3:19, I got a call from my son-in-law. Surabhi has fainted. I ran to her. I had a bag in my hand. I fell and broke my arm. I did not know about the shooting at that time,” said her father.
“After half an hour, they said that there was a pellet in her head. I came to know that 6 bullets were fired. There is no suspicion on anyone. I feel that it is a pre-planned murder. The son-in-law was having a dispute with some people. There was a dispute with the doctors here. The marriage took place in 2017, ” the father added.
Police investigation into the matter is going on. Alka (HR), Rakesh Roshan (victim’s husband), Ramesh Kumar alias Atul Kumar (victim’s brother-in-law), Anil Kumar and Masood Alam have been arrested so far by the police in the case. They were produced in court on Monday.
