E-Paper
Woman found dead in flat returned from UK without telling family
Police traced her location through her online food-delivery records after her family approached them when they were unable to contact her for several days
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A 34-year-old woman from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, who had travelled to London to pursue an MBA but apparently returned to India without informing her family, was found dead in her rented apartment at Lodha Belmondo society in Gahunje on Thursday.
Police traced her location through her online food-delivery records after her family approached them when they were unable to contact her for several days.
The deceased, identified as Mugdha Deshmukh, was found in a decomposed condition inside the apartment, which was locked from within. Police are investigating why she returned from the UK without informing her parents, and what happened after she moved to Pune. The absence of visible external injuries has not provided investigators with any immediate indication of the cause of death. Police said the post-mortem report would be crucial in establishing how she died.
Investigators are now examining her mobile phone, bank transactions and online activity to reconstruct her movements after she returned to India. They are also trying to establish when she moved into the Gahunje apartment, why she chose to stay there without informing her family and who she was in contact with in Pune.
“Mugdha Deshmukh was traced to a flat at Lodha Belmondo in Gahunje at around 5 am on Thursday. She was staying alone in the rented flat, and the rent was being paid using money transferred to her bank account by her family. No external injury marks were found on the body during the preliminary examination. We have not found anything conclusive so far to indicate the circumstances surrounding her death,” said Devendra Chavan, senior police inspector, Shirgaon police station.
Chavan added that the death did not prima facie appear to be a suicide, but police were probing further.
Mugdha’s father, Avinash Deshmukh, 60, a retired civil engineer, approached Osmanpura police on October 27 after failing to contact his daughter. Police registered a kidnapping case and began tracing her whereabouts.
According to the complaint, Mugdha had travelled to London in July 2025 to pursue an MBA. She was also taking up part-time jobs and regularly communicated with her parents over phone calls and WhatsApp.
Her last reported conversation with her mother was on October 23, when she said she was in a hurry to attend a job interview. The family could not reach her from October 24 onwards.
Concerned, her parents contacted her friend in London, identified as Nikita, who said she had last received a message from Mugdha on October 22. The friend also approached London police to trace her. On October 26, they informed her that Mugdha had left the UK in August.
Her father subsequently checked her bank transactions and found payments to online platforms, including Swiggy, Zomato, Blinkit, BookMyShow and MakeMyTrip, between October 8 and 25. These transactions suggested that she was in India.
Police examined her Zomato order history and traced a food delivery address to Lodha Belmondo society in Gahunje. A team reached the apartment and opened it using alternate keys. Mugdha was found dead inside.
Preliminary investigations revealed that she had rented the apartment around April and had been staying there since August or September. Police also learnt that she was reportedly teaching some subjects online to MBA students while staying in Pune.
“We are trying to gather information to establish the circumstances surrounding her death. All possible angles are being investigated,” Chavan said.
