A day after the Delhi Police announced a cash reward of R1 lakh for any information on the murder of 78-year-old Sarojini Bartwal in her Mayur Vihar home, her family members have requested the police commissioner to transfer the case to the crime branch. Hemendra Bartwal, the son of the deceased, told Hindustan Times that he sent an e-mail to Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar, requesting him to transfer the case from the east district police to the crime branch.

"Through the e-mail, I brought to the notice of the police commissioner that even after nine months, no significant progress has been made in the case. I requested him to rope in crime branch officers to look into the case," said Hemendra, who works as a political advisor to the British High Commissioner.

On January 10, Sarojini Bartwal was found smothered to death with a towel in her  Mayur Vihar flat.

Nine months later, the police are still struggling for a breakthrough in the case. The questioning of more than 200 people by as many as 50 police officers from 10 different teams has yielded little result.

This is the reason why Bartwal's family members feel that the case has hit a dead end.

The Delhi Police has announced a separate R1 lakh cash reward for information of the murder of a senior citizen couple — 79-year-old RK Bararu, former deputy director in the information and broadcast ministry, and his wife Durga Devi. They were murdered at their Shakarpur residence on August 21.