AI engineer kills colleague in Sector 55, dies by suicide on rail tracks
A 25-year-old software engineer was allegedly murdered by her colleague, who subsequently died by suicide on railway tracks, in a tragic case spanning Sector 55 and Garhi station in Gurugram.
The body of the female victim, Insharah Ayyubi, was found inside a locked paying guest accommodation in Sector 55 on Sunday, approximately 24 hours after her death. Meanwhile, the body of the suspect, Shresth Malik, was recovered from railway tracks near Garhi station, located about 60 kilometres away.
Both Ayyubi and Malik were 25-year-old engineers employed at Optum, an international healthcare services company based in Gurugram. Ayyubi, originally from Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, worked as a software engineer, while Malik, from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, was an artificial intelligence engineer.
According to the Gurugram police, the incident came to light after Ayyubi's family members filed a missing person complaint at the Sector 56 police station when repeated phone calls to her went unanswered. Police traced her phone's location to Malik's paying guest accommodation in Sector 55, where she had reportedly moved her belongings just three days prior.
When police forced open the locked door of the accommodation, they discovered Ayyubi's body in a pool of blood. Preliminary assessments by the police indicated she had suffered multiple stab wounds and her throat had been slit. Neighbours in the area reported hearing nothing unusual prior to the discovery.
In a parallel development, the Government Railway Police had recovered the body of a man from the railway tracks near Garhi station on Saturday. The deceased was identified as Malik through his phone and documents. While his death was initially suspected to be a train accident, subsequent investigations into Ayyubi's death led police to believe Malik allegedly killed her before dying by suicide.
Malik's family had initially been informed that he died in a train accident. They had travelled from Chhattisgarh to Gurugram to claim his body and were en route to his Sector 55 accommodation to collect his belongings on Sunday afternoon when Sector 56 police officers met them to disclose the murder investigation.
Malik had graduated from NIT Raipur last year and completed an internship at Samsung before joining Optum. Ayyubi graduated in computer science engineering from Jamia Millia Islamia last year.
Police have not found a suicide note, and the motive behind the incident remains unclear. Sector 56 police station head Inspector Manoj Kumar stated that a murder case has been registered and a probe is underway, with plans to question the parents of both individuals. The Government Railway Police and Sector 56 police are currently scanning CCTV footage and digital footprints to reconstruct the final hours of the deceased.
