Rajinder, 35, is on trial before the High Court at Dunedin for allegedly killing 27-year-old Gurjit Singh, whose body was found on the lawn of his Liberton home beside a broken window in January last year.
He was initially interviewed by police on January 31, a couple of days after the alleged murder, when he explained his left hand was heavily bandaged because of a chainsaw accident that occurred weeks earlier.
Photos were taken showing the bloodied dressing and the deep, open wound beneath.
When Rajinder returned to the Dunedin Central police station on the morning of February 5 last year, Detective Sergeant Reece Munro told him the investigation into Mr Singh’s death had "moved on steadily".
He immediately placed the defendant under arrest at the start of the video interview, shown to the jury yesterday.
"Me?" Rajinder asked. "But why me?
"I gave you all the correct things in first statement. I didn’t lie in any of the statement."
Fifteen minutes later, however, there was a turnaround.
Det Sgt Munro showed Rajinder CCTV photos from hours before Mr Singh’s death which showed the defendant bearing no wound to his hand.
"Look here I wanna say I lied to you guys, just in this one," Rajinder said.
He told police he took his wife to Mosgiel for a driving lesson after midnight on the evening of the killing.
While they were out, Rajinder said he unloaded a bike he bought earlier that day and, because of a loose front wheel, he fell over and caused the injury to his hand.
Rajinder said the urgent doctor was closed in the early hours of the morning and he did not want to wait for treatment at the hospital.
When he heard the news of Mr Singh’s death the next day he "got scared", resulting in the formulation of the chainsaw story.
"If you bring any Bible or any holy Granth [Sikh scripture] I can put my hand and say ‘this injury doesn’t have to do with this, Gurjit’s death’," Rajinder said.
Det Sgt Munro then showed him photos taken of blood stains at the victim’s Hillary St property, which had been analysed by forensic experts.
"What’s that?" Rajinder asked.
"Your blood," the officer responded. "Your blood is in the homicide scene on the path, gate and road."
The defendant said he had never been to the house.
"That’s impossible, totally impossible. I can’t believe that. No, I can’t believe that. No, that’s not true."
Det Sgt Munro pressed on.
"You didn’t stab him just once, you stabbed him over 20 times to his chest, neck, head. You didn’t cut his throat just once, not twice, but seven times," he said.
"No, no, no, no, that’s not true. No, no, that’s not me. I’m definitely sure that that’s not me. No, that’s totally wrong," Rajinder replied.
Before ending the 80-minute interview, the officer informed the defendant police inquiries were continuing and there was cellphone data to be perused, search warrants to be executed and hours of CCTV footage to be reviewed.
"No-one can take back what happened but we can make it easier for [Mr Singh’s] father and you can play a part in that. You can help alleviate the grief on his father by telling us what happened," Det Sgt Munro said.
Rajinder suggested someone had potentially "made a crime scene for me", that he had been framed, making a tentative reference to someone who had worked with the victim.
"I just wanna say clearly: I don’t know what you guys talking about but I’m not the guy why you guys searching for," he said.
The court will not sit today but on Monday the jury will hear from the final Crown witnesses: forensic scientists and a fingerprint expert.
Justice Rachel Dunningham confirmed the trial was expected to conclude next week.
