Noida: Elderly woman found murdered in Sector 15 home

A 70-year-old woman was found murdered in her house in Sector 15 Tuesday, the police said. They added that it appears that the woman, who used to live alone, was

A 70-year-old woman was found murdered in her house in Sector 15 Tuesday, the police said. They added that it appears that the woman, who used to live alone, was strangulated to death.

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According to the police, the woman’s body was discovered by a family friend, and no signs of forced entry were found at the house.

The deceased was identified as Santosh Kumari who lives in a three-storey house in Sector 15 with tenants occupying the ground and second floor. Her two sons live abroad, the police said.

“Her younger son was trying to reach her over the phone. When she did not answer his calls, he asked a friend in Delhi to go and check on her. The friend, Kunal (single name), came to her house today (Tuesday) morning and found her dead,” said deputy commissioner of police, zone 1, Sankalp Sharma.

Police officers said they found out about the incident around 9.30 am. Based on a complaint by the family friend, a case of murder has been registered at the Sector 20 police station and the body has been sent for an autopsy.

The friend had found the door of her house open suggesting that she probably knew the murderer and had opened the door for them, the police said.

“She was found in the washroom and, prima facie, it seems that she was strangled. However, we will know more about the cause and time of death once the autopsy report is out. A few neighbours said that they had seen the woman in the balcony on Monday around 7pm, however, Kunal told us that she hadn’t answered his calls around 6.45 pm. So we suspect that the incident may have happened around that time only,” the DCP said.

The police said they are questioning all people who were in regular contact with the elderly woman.

“It has also come to light that she had sold the house she was currently living in February this year. We are looking into that angle also. We have a few leads and are working on them,” said the DCP.

The DCP further said that it does not seem to be a case of robbery as most valuables were found intact. “But we cannot be absolutely certain if anything is missing or not. There are no obvious signs of struggle. But the house has been ransacked suggesting that someone may have been looking for something. However, that could be staged to divert attention as well,” said Sharma.

“It is a gated community but the security guards, tenants or neighbours have not provided us any concrete clues. We are looking at the CCTV camera footage from the area as well,” he said.

A forensic team and the dog squad also visited the crime spot. Five teams are currently working on the case, the police said.

44-year-old woman found dead, husband detained

In another incident, the body of a 44-year-old woman was found by passersby in a field on Tuesday in Mangroli village.

The police have detained her husband for questioning in connection with the alleged murder. “The woman was identified as Tara Devi. According to her family members, her husband and she had an argument on Monday night. We have detained him for now and are questioning him,” said Yogesh Malik, station house officer, Expressway police station.

The woman had injury marks on her body and was sent for an autopsy to ascertain the cause of death. Police officers said that the husband was a compulsive alcoholic and have murdered her following a domestic dispute.

Based on her family’s complaint, a case of murder has been registered, and a probe in the matter is underway.

The police suspect that the woman might have been killed on late Monday night itself.