New Delhi: “Mujhse apraadh ho gaya ma’am… galti ho gayi (I have committed a crime, ma’am… I made a mistake),” the man accused of raping and murdering the 22-year-old daughter of an Indian Revenue Service officer at her southeast Delhi residence on Wednesday told a judicial magistrate on Thursday.The 23-year-old native of Alwar, a former domestic help of the family, also told the court that he committed the crime for money and that he dragged the bleeding and unconscious victim downstairs to obtain her fingerprints so that he could open a biometric cash locker, which reportedly could be accessed only through the fingerprints of either the officer, his wife, or the daughter.

The court sent the accused to four-day police custody after the prosecution said the probe was at an initial stage and cops needed to conduct a detailed investigation.During the hearing, Deepika Thakran, judicial magistrate first class at Saket Court where he was produced, took note of his injuries as reflected in his medico-legal case (MLC). When asked about them, the accused, who was wearing a black shirt and white track pants and had his face covered with a white cloth, said he suffered the injuries while getting off the terrace. “Which terrace?” the magistrate asked, following which he said that he had committed a mistake.Asked about the motive behind such a “mistake”, the accused replied, “Paise ke liye kiya (I did it for money).” The judicial magistrate clarified, “So you’re admitting the offence… I am not treating this as a confession.”Seeking his custody, the prosecution said, “It is a heinous crime. We are also investigating a similar case against him that took place in Alwar.” Just hours before he committed the crime in Delhi, the man had barged into the house of a woman in Alwar, allegedly raped her and even tried to strangle her.Police also stressed the need to ascertain whether the accused had accomplices.Though the defence opposed the four-day custody plea as “exorbitant”, the magistrate observed that the matter was at an “initial stage” and required detailed investigation, including scientific examination of the crime scene.