Domestic help is beaten to death in Mehrauli, 4 held

NEW DELHI: A 44-year-old woman, who worked as a domestic help, was killed after being thrashed by her employer and his family on suspicion of stealing cash, police said.

The incident took place in south Delhi’s Mehrauli. The woman lived as a tenant in the same house where she worked as a domestic help.

Atul Kumar Thakur, deputy commissioner of police (south), said that the police have registered a murder case and arrested the woman’s employer, his wife, their son and another domestic help who worked at the same house.

The DCP said that while the arrested family blamed the victim of stealing lakhs of rupees from their house, investigators so far had not fond any evidence related to the alleged theft.

“Initially the family claimed that she stole Rs 2 lakh before raising the amount to Rs 50 lakh. Neighbours have told us that the family eventually later found the money in the house itself. Our priority is to arrest all the people involved in the murder,” said the DCP.

The officer identified the woman as Manju Goyal. Goyal had lost her husband a few years ago. Her children live with her in-laws in Haryana’s Rewari. Though Goyal’s brothers are settled in south Delhi neighbourhoods and run a catering business, the woman had chosen to live on rent in a house in Mehrauli. The house belongs to 54-year-old Satish Pahwa, who runs a wholesale business.

“Goyal worked as a domestic help in the same house as well as some other buildings in the neighbourhood,” said the DCP.

According to the officer, Goyal was at work around 7am on Saturday when some members of the house began blaming her for stealing cash. “They first interrogated her before beating her up. They then called her brother’s family around 8.15am to inform them about the theft and the beating,” said the officer.

Goyal’s brother, Mahesh Chand Jindal, said that when he reached the house, he found his sister injured on the floor and the occupants of the building still beating her up.

“They were asphyxiating her, slapping her and kicking her in her stomach. When my wife and I begged them to stop, they abused us and continued beating her,” said Jindal, adding that while the thrashing took place inside the house, a crowd had gathered outside.

Jindal later managed to rescue and take his sister to his home and called a doctor. “She couldn’t even stand on her own. There were injuries to her face and limbs, but she kept complaining about a severe pain in her stomach,” said Jindal.

The DCP said that Goyal succumbed to her injuries at her brother’s home around 7.45pm on Saturday.

Jindal said that his sister chose to work as a domestic help as she was a woman with a strong sense of “self respect”. “I have a flourishing catering business, but she would always turn down my offers of monetary help. Such a woman could never steal,” said Jindal.

The police received a call after Goel’s death and followed registered a murder case before making the arrests. “We have arrested Satish, his wife Jyoti, their son Pankaj and their domestic help Kamlesh. Our probe revealed that Kamlesh too had roughed up Goyal. We continue to investigate the role of other family members,” said the DCP.