Elderly woman murdered
House found ransacked, cops quiz domestic help in Mayur Vihar
A 78-year-old woman was found murdered under mysterious circumstances at her house in Mayur Vihar in east Delhi on Tuesday, police said.
The deceased is identified as Sarojini Bartwal, who lived alone in her house in Mayur Vihar. She was found dead by one of her domestic help at around 11 am.
“The domestic help informed the neighbours who then called the police. When we reached the spot, Bartwal was found lying in a pool of blood. The house was also ransacked,” a senior police officer said.
The initial police investigation suggests that some unidentified persons had robbed the house and smothered Bartwal while trying to escape with the valuables.
“Blood was oozing from Bartwal’s nose and some scratch marks were found on her face when the domestic help found the body,” the officer said.
“We are waiting for the forensic report to come. The exact cause of the death will be clear only after post-mortem report is prepared,” the officer added.
The police are questioning Bartwal’s domestic help and neighbours to get some clues about the incident.
“We are investigating the matter from different angles. We are also trying to ascertain the amount of valuables missing from the house. A case has been registered,” the officer said.
Bartwal is from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, and had been living alone in her Mayur Vihar house, after her husband, Bijender Singh Bartwal, died in 2008.
Her only son, Hemendra Singh Bartwal, 45, and daughter-in-law work for the British High Commission in New Delhi.
They live in Indirapuram in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
The police say Bartwal was a registered senior citizen at the Mayur Vihar Police Station. “The beat constable of the area visited her on a daily basis, while the Station House Officer of Mayur Vihar Police Station met her at her residence once a week,” the officer claimed.
“The domestic help, both residents of Trilokpuri near Mayur Vihar, were, however, not verified with the police,” president of the Mayur Vihar Phase I Pocket IV Residents Welfare Association, R K Saxena said.
Police have asked residents to verify their domestic help for their own safety.
