Bed-ridden elderly man, wife found murdered in Indore
A 74-year-old bed-ridden paralysed man and his 68-year-old wife were found murdered inside their flat in the posh Apollo DB City apartment in Indore on Sunday afternoon.
A 74-year-old bed-ridden paralysed man and his 68-year-old wife were found murdered inside their flat in the posh Apollo DB City apartment in Indore on Sunday afternoon.
Shrichand and Shanti Mittal were stabbed multiple times and found lying in a pool of blood. “Shrichand was asleep when he was stabbed on the chest and neck. Shanti was found with her throat slit. The assailants dragged her body and dumped it in her husband’s room,” a police officer said.
The couple had moved in to the city from Lucknow a few years ago, police said.
Shockingly, an inspection revealed that closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) installed inside lifts were ‘dummies’. It was after a security guard entered the flat through balcony that the twin murders came to light.
The room was found locked from inside and nothing valuable missing from the house barring two cell phones. “`50,000 in cash and jewellery worth about ` 3 lakh were found untouched in almirah. The keys of the almirah were also found in the house. Nothing in the house was damaged or disturbed,” the officer said.
Police suspect the murders could have taken place a day before as no one opened the door on Saturday afternoon when their domestic help Sapna went to work.
On Sunday, Sapna knocked at the door but it again went unanswered. The domestic help smelled something fishy and rang up the elderly couple’s daughter Anjali about the matter.
The shocked daughter did not remember her parents share adverse ties with anyone known to her, police said, adding that Anjali didn’t name anyone whom she suspected could have a hand in the gruesome killings.
“The couple had three daughters. One of them resides in the same building whereas the others stay in different cities. They were informed about the murders. We are in the process of questioning the family members, maids and security guards in the building,” assistant superintendent of police (ASP) East Rakesh Singh said.
Meanwhile, residents of the township were shocked to know that the CCTV cameras inside the lifts were dummies.
“We were tricked into believing that we are residing in a highly secure township. Today, when the police officers demanded CCTV footage, they were told that dummy instruments had been installed inside the lifts,” a resident said.
The apartment’s management accepted that the CCTVs were not functional inside the lifts but claimed the network of surveillance cameras were working in all floors.
Police sent the bodies to a government hospital for autopsies and lodged a case of murder.
The twin murders were reported barely a few days after a 28-year-old man stabbed to death his seven-month pregnant wife in Ahirkhedi Road. Police said the man suspected his wife had an illicit affair.