‘She would always warn us to bolt our main door’

“She would always warn us to bolt our main door from the inside, especially during the afternoons, as it was unsafe.

“She would always warn us to bolt our main door from the inside, especially during the afternoons, as it was unsafe.

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However, from the time we have been staying here, most of us would not bolt the door as we kept going to one another’s houses several times in a day,” said Rajashri Sidganesh, 33, a neighbour of Latika Kamble, who was murdered after an unidentified person gained entry into her flat at Kalpana Vihar society in Vikhroli on Wednesday.

Rajashri told Hindustan Times, “Every afternoon, after having lunch, she would bolt her main door from inside and sleep. The incident comes as a shock as Latika Aunty was so cautious about her safety. She did not allow strangers inside her house.”

Another of Kamble’s neighbours, who preferred not to identify herself, said, “ I was present in the house all afternoon but I did not hear anything suspicious. It is surprising that someone can enter the building, gain entry into one of the houses, and kill somebody without being seen by anyone.”

Residents of the building remember Kamble as an extremely fit and outgoing person who did all the household work by herself. “In fact on many occasions, I would ask Latika Aunty to take care of my mother when I was going out. She was helpful, and apart from those in the building, many people in the locality knew her well,” Rajashri said.