JOIN USBurglars stab elderly women to death
Two elderly women were stabbed to death at Rohini in outer Delhi when they caught a gang of armed burglars red-handed during the wee hours of Tuesday.
Shanti Devi, 65, of block G and Reshma Devi, 67, of block D were stabbed after the burglars targeted their houses, barely 300 metres away from each others, and within the span of half-an hour, said B S Jaiswal, deputy commissioner of police (outer).
The assailants first struck at the two-storey home of Shanti, who lived with her husband Bheesham Lal, 70, and five sons, around 1.45 am. According to a police official, Shanti and Bheesham, along with their younger son Bheem, 20, were sleeping on the ground floor of the house when three burglars broke in.
“They were armed with knives and entered into the house by unbolting the door through a gap on the window,” the official added. They were searching for valuables when Shanti woke up hearing a noise and raised an alarm due to which her husband and Bheem also woke up.
Shanti and Bheem later plunged into a scuffle with the assailants and managed to overpower two of them, while Bheesham ran upstairs to inform his four sons. However, the third burglar, standing outside the house, entered and stabbed Shanti multiple times, slashed Bheem’s left hand and fled from the spot.
Despite being stabbed, Shanti followed them till she collapsed outside her house. She was rushed to Jaipur Golden Hospital by her family members, but was declared brought dead by doctors.
Family members claimed that the burglars managed to flee with Shanti and her son Dileep’s money bags.
“The loss is yet to be ascertained,” the official said.
The two murders were linked after Dileep’s burgled wallet was found at Reshma’s home.
“The burglars believed to have broken inside Reshma’s three-storey building barely 20 minutes after the attack on Shanti,” the official said.
Reshma sleeps alone at the ground floor of the building, while her daughter and other family members stay at other floors.
“They entered into the room after cutting a window frame. When my mother shouted seeing them, they stabbed her twice and fled from the scene. My mother was lying in a pool of blood on her bed,” said Reshma’s daughter Jyoti.
They took away some gold jewellery that Reshma was wearing.
Jyoti’s husband Rishi, who works as toy exporter, immediately rushed Reshma to Jaipur Golden Hospital, where she was declared brought dead.
Police later shifted both the bodies to Dr B R Ambedkar Hospital for post-mortems.
Separate cases of murder and house-breaking have also been registered against unknown persons at Rohini South police station.
“It is believed to be the handywork of the same gang,” the official added.
Sources said three men, with criminal history of burglaries and robberies, have been detained and are being questioned at the local police station.