80-year-old woman murdered by grandson in Delhi

A police officer associated with the probe said that the suspect was identified with the help of CCTV cameras installed in the lane outside the elderly woman’s flat.

An 80-year-old woman was found dead with her throat slit on Friday morning at her house in Shalimar Bagh area in northwest Delhi, where she lived alone for the past over a year, police said on Friday, and added that they have apprehended the woman’s 17-year-old grandson, who killed her for refusing to give him money.

Representational image

The teenager, a Class 12 student, was caught in the afternoon from a private school in northwest Delhi, where he had gone to attend his classes in the morning, less than 12 hours after he killed his grandmother using a blade, the police said.

The clothes that the teenager wore at the time of the crime were also recovered. But, the weapon is yet to be found, the police added.

A police officer associated with the probe said that the suspect was identified with the help of CCTV cameras installed in the lane outside the elderly woman’s flat. The cameras captured the teenager entering the four-storey Janta Flat building where the elderly woman lived alone. His face was covered with a towel when he entered the building around 9pm and left around 11pm on Thursday, the officer said.

“During the investigation, a child in conflict with law (CCL), who is a family member of the deceased, has been apprehended. He was demanding money from the deceased and when she denied, he murdered her. Further, investigation is in progress,” said deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Usha Rangnani.

DCP Rangnani said that on Friday around 11am, the Shalimar Bagh police received a call about the murder of an elderly woman at a flat in BS block of Shalimar Bagh. A police team went to the flat and found the woman lying in the bed with her throat slit.

The crime scene inspection revealed that all the jewellery items on the woman’s body were intact and there were no signs of ransacking in the flat. Also, there was no sign of any forced entry and the main door to the flat was latched from outside, indicating that the killer was likely known to the deceased.

A case of murder was registered and several teams, including the northwest district’s special staff and anti-auto theft squad (AATS), were formed to probe the case, the DCP said.

The murder has left the woman’s neighbours in shock. A family living on the first floor said they had good relations with the elderly woman and she was very fond of them. They suspected something amiss on Friday morning and informed her daughter that the flat was locked from outside but the air-conditioner (AC) was on till late morning “which was unusual”, they said.

Police said that the woman’s four sons, who are into different businesses, live with their families in Shalimar Bagh and Pitampura. The apprehended teenager is the son of her youngest son’s second wife whom he married around five years ago.

The teenager was 12 when he shifted to his stepfather’s home with his mother.