The spate of attacks on the elderly in the city continued with two sisters found murdered at their Parel residence on Tuesday evening. The police suspect robbery to be the motive; four persons have been arrested.
The victims, identified as Pramila Govind Gawde (52) and Krishnabai Govind Gawde (58), shared the flat on the sixth floor of Mitradham Society in Parel with their brother. All three are unmarried.
Their bodies were discovered by their brother Keshav Gawde (62) in the evening. “When his sisters did not answer the door, he got the neighbours’ help to break the door down. They found the women stabbed and lying in a pool of blood in the bedroom,” said Sanjay Baviskar, deputy commissioner of police, zone IV.
“Robbery appears to be the motive as the house was ransacked,” a police official said.
The police were conducting a nakabandi at Shindewadi in Dadar (East) and stopped two of the suspects as they were behaving suspiciously.
“Two of them were in a taxi with the loot. When we checked and questioned them at the nakabandi about the jewellery they were carrying [they had 650 gm gold], they lost their nerve and confessed,” said a senior officer, who did not want to be identified.
{{/usCountry}}“Two of them were in a taxi with the loot. When we checked and questioned them at the nakabandi about the jewellery they were carrying [they had 650 gm gold], they lost their nerve and confessed,” said a senior officer, who did not want to be identified.
{{/usCountry}}“They revealed the whereabouts of their two accomplices and we arrested them in an hour.”
In the past six months, at least 10 senior citizens have been murdered in the city. In most cases, they were living alone.
Following these incidents, on June 30, police commissioner D. Sivanandan issued a circular directing all police stations to come up with a list of precautionary measures to ensure the safety of seniors.