Former Union minister PR Kumaramangalam’s wife murdered at Delhi home

Delhi Police said they were informed of the incident by her domestic help, who said that a washerman Raju Lakhan had come to the house around 9pm with two associates and held her hostage before entering Kitty Kumaramangalam’s room

Kitty Kumaramangalam, 68, wife of former Union minister PR Kumaramangalam was murdered inside her house in south Delhi’s Vasant Vihar on Tuesday night, Delhi Police said.

Representational image. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

They arrested a 24-year-old suspect Raju Lakhan on Wednesday morning.

Police said Lakhan is a local washerman in A block colony, Vasant Vihar, who visited Kitty Kumaramangalam’s house everyday for the last five years.

Delhi Police said they were informed of the incident by her domestic help, who said that Lakhan had come to the house around 9pm with two associates and held her hostage before entering Kitty Kumaramangalam’s room.

“In the meantime, his two associates entered and overpowered Kitty Kumaramangalam and smothered her with a pillow. Then the three left. The maid somehow untied herself and raised an alarm,” said DCP(South West) Ingit Pratap Singh.

Police said they confirmed the maid’s version with Lakhan during his arrest. The maid said that Lakhan visited the house everyday around 9pm--it was his routine. “ We quickly formed teams and arrested Lakhan. He lives in the nearby Bhanwar Singh camp. He has disclosed the name of the other two. We are on the lookout for them.”

DCP Singh said they have recovered a bag of stolen clothes from Lakhan. “We are checking what was stolen from the house. The other two men also took two bags with them.”

Kitty Kumaramangalam lived alone on the second floor. Police said they have informed her son in Bengaluru. Her husband PR Kumaramangalam was a minister in the National Democratic Alliance government between 1998 and 2001.

Between January 1 and June 15, 2021, Delhi has reported 196 murders.