A 38-year-old school teacher was brutally murdered in her home in northwest Delhi’s Rohini on Monday. Police suspect the victim’s husband and said the killer had hit her on the forehead with a blunt object before slitting her throat. Kaumudi Chaturvedi’s lifeless body was found wrapped in a blanket in a pool of blood on her bed. The bedroom walls of the apartment — where she lived with her son and husband — were spattered with blood, indicating that she had wrestled with her assailant, the police said.

The family realised that something was amiss when Kaumudi’s son — a Class 8 student in the same school where she taught — returned home after tuition at 6pm and found a new lock on the door. He tried calling his mother, but her phone was switched off. 

“That’s when he called us using a neighbour’s phone,” said Kaumudi’s father BP Nautiyal. “When police broke open the door, Kaumudi’s body was lying on the bed and Hemant (her husband) was missing.”

The police have launched a search operation for Hemant.

BS Jaiswal, DCP (outer), who is heading the investigation, mentioned an ongoing court case between Kaumudi and Hemant relating to dowry harassment and divorce. 

“We suspect Hemant’s involvement as he is missing and his mobile is also switched off. The exact motive behind the murder will be ascertained only after we nab the culprit.”