Date:26/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/26/stories/2006082624200300.htm

New Delhi

94-year-old woman found murdered in Rajinder Nagar

Staff Reporter

Police have not ruled out robbery as a possible motive

NEW DELHI: A 94-year-old woman was found murdered under highly mysterious circumstances at her Old Rajinder Nagar residence in Central Delhi on Friday morning. The police have not ruled out robbery as a possible motive.

The murder came to light around noon when a maid working at Kaushalya Bhalla's house found the door ajar and upon entering discovered the body of Ms. Bhalla lying in the kitchen with her hands and legs tied. The maid immediately raised an alarm.

Subsequently the police were called in and Ms. Bhalla's relatives informed. There was some ransacking of the house suggesting that attempts had been made to search for valuables.

The crime team lifted fingerprints and other evidence from the spot. There were ligature marks around her neck suggesting that she had been strangled. "The post-mortem report would confirm the exact cause of death," said a police officer.

Local residents told the police that Ms. Bhalla was last seen around 9-30 a.m. by a man who was washing a car parked near her house.

Ms. Bhalla lived with her son Harish, who earlier worked in Chennai. She lived there with him for about six years, after which Harish shifted to Gurgaon this February. He dropped his mother at the Old Rajinder Nagar residence about a week ago. The woman had been living there alone for the past eight days, the police said.

Her eldest son, who used to work as a consultant with the Nepal Government, is no more.

Ms. Bhalla's two other sons Prakash and Prithviraj, and a daughter Saroj live in the United States.