Date:14/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/01/14/stories/2007011423210300.htm

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Karnataka - Bangalore

Woman found stabbed to death

Staff Reporter

Police suspect that Latha was killed by her husband

Latha had come to Bangalore on December 11 last

It is said the couple used to quarrel frequently

DURING HAPPY TIMES: A file photo of Latha and her husband Ashish Malhotra.

BANGALORE: A 26-year-old woman, wife of a businessman from New Delhi who recently moved to Bangalore, was found murdered at her house in Fraser Town police station limits on Friday night.

The police suspect that Braz Latha was stabbed to death by her husband Ashish Malhotra, who is at large. Latha's body was found on a bed and she had stab injuries on the neck, chest, abdomen, hands and face, the police said.

According to the police, Latha came to Bangalore on December 11and took on rent the first floor house of Swaroopa Rani on Rogers Road in Richards Town. Subsequently, Malhotra joined her. The couple have a six-year-old daughter Bennish.

Around 11.30 p.m., residents of the ground floor house heard Bennish screaming. When they rushed to Malhotra's house, they found Latha lying in a pool of blood and they informed the police.

When the police visited the scene of crime, Bennish told them that her father had attacked her mother with a knife.

"Police uncle, my father killed my mom," Assistant Commissioner of Police (Fraser Town) Puttathimme Gowda said, quoting the girl.

Some of the neighbours told The Hindu that the couple used to quarrel frequently and they had heard the Malhotras shouting at each other. The Malhotras were paying a monthly rent of Rs. 8,500 for the house, they said.

Latha's parents live in Canada and she was brought up by her grandparents in New Delhi. The police have informed her grandparents of the incident and kept her body at the Ambedkar Medical College hospital mortuary.

Soon after the murder came to light, police teams were sent to railway stations, bus stands and the airport to ensure that Malhotra did not flee from the city, Mr. Gowda said.

The police, who are yet to ascertain the motive behind the murder, suspect that Latha could have been killed over a domestic dispute. "We would be able to probe further once her relatives provide us more information," Mr. Gowda said.

The police suspect that Latha's husband is a Muslim and Malhotra is not his real name.

He was running garments business in New Delhi and was planning to extend it to Bangalore.