88-year-old woman stabbed to death in Safdarjung Enclave
nNEWDELHI: An 88-year-old woman was stabbed to death at her house in south Delhi’s Safdarjung Enclave on Saturday evening during a robbery attempted by a security guard she had hired about a fortnight ago. The woman’s husband, 94, a retired officer from the Ministry of External Affairs was also attacked by the guard and his two associates who made away with valuables and cash from the house. However, by Sunday afternoon, a police team arrested the trio and a fourth associate from Gauriphanta in UP (near the Indo-nepal border) while they were on their way to Nepal. The men had hired a taxi two days in advance to escape after the “planned heist”, the police said.
“Four accused have been arrested connection with the murder of an 88-year-old woman in Safdarjung area yesterday. With their arrest, robbed cash of ₹55,000, jewellery and knife used in the commission of crime have been recovered. Further investigation is in progress:,” the Delhi Police said in a statement.
One of the arrested men has been identified as Rajesh alias Dimu, 19, the security guard who hails from a village in Nepal. The police said Rajesh had been working in the neighbourhood for the past year and the couple was familiar with him. They had hired him on the recommendation of their maid, who also hails from Nepal. The maid, however, is not involved in the crime, the police clarified.
The other three arrested men are Gyanender, 23, Om Singh, 18, and Pramod Pragya, 26, all from Bajhang district in Nepal. All the men worked as security guards in Delhi. Om is Rajesh’s cousin, the others are friends. None of them have a criminal record, the police confirmed.
According to the police, the incident took place between 8.20pm and 8.45pm. “The CCTV camera footage from the area established that Om and Gyanender, led by Rajesh, entered the upper ground floor of the fourstorey residential building roughly around 8.25pm. As they rang the call bell, Kanta Chawla opened the door. As soon as she let Rajesh into the living room, the other two men followed. The trio overpowered the couple,” an investigator, who did not wish to be named, said.
The officer said that when the trio headed for the wardrobe in the bedroom, Kanta Chawla objected and tried to raise an alarm. “This triggered a scuffle and the three men stabbed the elderly woman in the throat. She died on the spot. The men picked up all the cash and valuables from the couple’s bedroom and fled the house,” the officer said.
He said the husband somehow alerted those living on the upper floors. They alerted their neighbours and informed the police.
Deputy commissioner of police (south-west) Devender Arya said a police team that reached the spot sent the woman’s body to a hospital for an autopsy. “A forensics team was called in to inspect the crime scene. The woman’s husband is 94 years old, he cannot speak much. The house has no CCTV cameras, but footage from a CCTV camera nearby showed three men entering the house around 8.25pm and leaving at 8.47pm. Preliminary probe shows the entry was not forced. But because all of them were wearing surgical masks, we couldn’t identify them,” Arya said.
The DCP said that during initial questioning, neighbours told them that the couple had recently hired a security guard on June 5 for round-the-clock assistance.
“The guard was missing. His phone was also switched off. Technical surveillance revealed that he had switched his phone off around 6.30pm. We also found that he was of Nepali origin and was hired about a fortnight ago on the recommendation of the couple’s househelp, who also belongs to Nepal,” he said.
Arya said that when they interrogated the domestic help, she revealed the details of Rajesh’s hometown and his family. “Meanwhile, a team that was surveilling Rajesh’s phone found that he was in regular touch with one Gyanender, who had also switched off his phone at the same time,” he said.
The DCP said this brought Gyanender also on their radar and a team immediately rushed to Tanakpur in Uttar Pradesh (UP), a route usually taken to escape to Nepal. They sent other teams to ISBTS and railway stations to look for the suspects.
“Meanwhile, we also alerted the Uttar Pradesh Police. All routes that led to Nepal were put on high alert and vehicles were thoroughly checked. We had also picked up one of Rajesh’s friends who lives in RK Puram to help us identify him. Around 4pm we had a breakthrough when a joint team comprising the UP Police and Delhi Police arrested the foursome from Gauriphanta,” the officer said.
He said that during initial questioning, Rajesh and others confessed to have killed Kanta Chawla. “They said they had planned the heist in advance and had also contacted a taxi driver on Thursday. They had told him they want to go to Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday and that they’d meet him at Safdarjung Hospital. Pramod was not at the crime scene, instead, he was at Safdarjung Hospital coordinating with the hired taxi driver. The driver was paid ₹12,000 with the robbed cash. The driver, who was unaware of their involvement in the crime, dropped them at Lakhimpur Kheri and from there they planned to escape to Rajesh’s village in Nepal,” Arya said.
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