The Hindu : Front Page : Woman, daughter found murdered in flat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 13, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Woman, daughter found murdered in flat

Staff Reporter

Both victims were lawyers; culprits made friendly entry into their South Delhi apartment, say police

TRAGIC END: Swarna Mahajan (left) and her daughter Anuratha who were found gagged to death in their South Delhi flat on Sunday.

NEW DELHI: A 73-year-old widow and her 48-year-old daughter, both practicing lawyers at Delhi High Court, were found gagged to death under highly mysterious circumstances at their Siddhartha Enclave flat in South Delhi on Sunday. While their domestic help is being questioned, the police suspect the hand of someone known to the victims in the crime.

According to the police, domestic help Geeta reached the ground floor residence of Swarna Mahajan and her daughter Anuratha around 8 a.m. She knocked at the door several times but did not get any response. Suspecting that something was amiss, Geeta contacted a neighbour and they broke open the door. When they saw the bodies of Ms. Mahajan and Ms. Anuratha lying with their hands tied, they raised an alarm and immediately called in the police.

Initial probe revealed that an almirah had been ransacked. "A couple of cupboards have been found ransacked, but it would be too early to say that the murders were committed with robbery as a motive. There was a friendly entry into the house indicating that the victims knew the assailants well. Plates with leftovers were found on a table suggesting that someone had come to meet the mother and the daughter on Saturday evening," said a police officer.

The police have seized a register containing registration numbers of the vehicles entering the housing complex to ascertain who all met the victims in their house on Saturday evening. The security guard posted at the entrance gate told the police that around 6-45 p.m. on Saturday, a car with an Uttar Pradesh registration number had come to pick up Ms. Anuratha. She returned in another vehicle bearing another Uttar Pradesh number around 8-55 p.m. In her statement to the police, Geeta claimed that she had left around 7-30 p.m.

A family friend, Veena Nanda, said Ms. Mahajan was supposed to visit a temple on Sunday morning. As she was not feeling well, Ms. Nanda sent a car to pick her up. But she did not turn up, after which Ms. Nanda came to know that both Ms. Mahajan and Ms. Anuratha had been murdered.

According to area residents, Ms. Mahajan had been living with her daughter at the Siddhartha Enclave flat since 1983. Her son Sanjeev works with a consultancy firm in the United States and has been living there with his family for several years.

A case of murder has been registered at Srinivaspuri police station. The police are waiting for Sanjeev and his wife to arrive, probably on Monday, after which post-mortem would be conducted. "They can tell us if any valuable is missing from the house," the police officer added.

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