63-yr-old woman found dead in Malabar Hill apartment

63-year-old woman found dead in her 20th floor apartment at Tahnee Heights, Mumbai. Police suspect murder by missing servant. Jewelry also missing.

MUMBAI: A 63-year-old woman was found dead in her 20th floor, sea-facing apartment in Tahnee Heights, a housing society at Nepean Sea Road on Tuesday. The Malabar Hill police suspect she was murdered by her servant, who was recruited recently and has been missing since the incident.

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According to the police, the woman, identified as Jyoti Shah, 63, lived with her husband Mukesh Shah, who owns a jewellery showroom in a five-star star hotel. On Tuesday, she and the maid servant were the only persons at home after her husband left for work.

“The husband was trying to reach her on the phone since afternoon, but she was not answering any calls. After he returned home in the evening, he knocked on the door, but then too, there was no answer,” said a police officer from Malabar Hill police station.

When Mukesh Shah unlocked the house using his spare key, he found his wife lying unconscious on the bed. He rushed her to a hospital immediately, where she was declared brought dead.

“We suspect that their servant, who was hired recently and has gone missing since the incident, murdered her. Prima facie, the cause of death is strangulation,” said the police officer. Some jewellery is also missing from the apartment, he added.

The servant was hired on Sunday, and police have detained the person who had referred her for the job. “We are questioning some people while the family is trying to find if something else has gone missing from the house,” said the police officer.

The police said they are in the process of registering an offence under section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code.