Burnt bodies of mother and daughter found in Amritsar

AMRITSAR: A 40-year-old woman and her daughter (20) were found dead under mysterious circumstances on Tuesday in separate rooms of their house.

Both bodies were charred. The daughter’s body was found tied to a bed in a semi-naked state. Police suspect it could be a robbery and molestation bid that turned fatal.

The death of the two women came to light after residents of the locality saw flames rising from the house around 1am and called the police and fire brigade.

While the elder woman’s body was found in a room on the ground floor, the daughter’s body was in a room on the first floor. The woman was separated from her second husband and had a younger son who had left for Canada last month to study, while the daughter had recently graduated from college.

“When the fire brigade came, the main gate of the house was already open, which shows there was no forced entry. Things were scattered, hinting at a robbery bid,” said ADCP Jagjit Singh Walia, who reached the spot with police commissioner SS Srivastava and DCP Jagmohan Singh, besides forensic experts.

He said preliminary probe shows the daughter may have been molested. Police booked unidentified persons for murder.

“Someone from her neighbourhood called me to inform that a fire had broken out in her house. I reached around 4am when the fire had just been extinguished,” said the woman’s brother who lives in the nearby Jandiala Guru town. The mobile phones of his sister and niece were missing, he said.

One of the neighbours, Paramjit Kaur, said, “They were not familiar with other residents. Someone may have come through an abandoned plot near their house.”

Another neighbour said, “There was a German Shepherd dog in their house and it didn’t bark, it seems.” Police said the dog may not have barked because it may have been frightened by the fire and smoke.

The duo had shifted to the locality two years ago after the older woman bought the house, police said.

POLICE SAY INITIAL PROBE SHOWS THE DAUGHTER MAY HAVE BEEN MOLESTED