Swedish man gets 18 yrs for Bengal scholar’s murder
Times of India | 27 May 2024
Kolkata: Richard Johansson (29), a Swedish computer programmer, was sentenced to 18 years in prison last Wednesday by a Swedish district court, for the murder of Roshni Das (31), a research scholar at Umea University in Sweden last Sept at her apartment. Das was from Durgapur.
According to Oskar Soderberg, the lawyer who represented Das’s family, Johansson did not have any previous criminal record and had met Das through a dating app.“The two had met a few times before the murder but did not have a relationship. The murderer had a girlfriend living in Germany,” he said.
In Nov, while the police investigation was still in progress, TOI reported that Das’s body was flown back to India, retrieved by five family members and was taken to their native village Kandi, in Murshidabad. Following Wednesday’s verdict, Roshni’s cousin, Supradip Das told TOI, “When we received her body we could not recognise her face at all. We were told after the investigation that her face had been slashed 41 times. Now we are glad that justice has been served swiftly. However, the family is still under bereavement. Roshni’s mother, Mamata, is still undergoing psychological counselling.”
According to the judgement by Umea District Court, the cause of Das’s death was by strangulation and by inflicting repeated blunt and sharp force trauma to her head and neck. “The violence consisted of Richard Johansson strangling Roshni Das, stabbing her with a knife, and hitting her with an iron, a rod, and a ski,” the Court observed.
Swedish prosecutor Anna Lundberg noted during the verdict that Johansson had been living with his cousin just prior to the murder. He had been in police custody after allegedly threatening to assault the cousin. Upon release on Sept 29, Johansson contacted Das asking for a place to sleep. When neighbours who had seen Das with Johansson asked the latter about Das’s whereabouts, Johansson said he had killed her.
The neighbours subsequently called an ambulance and the police discovered her body in her apartment on Sept 30.
“The family regrets that the murderer was released from police custody after allegedly attacking his cousin. If not for that, perhaps Roshni would have still been with us,” said Supradip.