Woman killed, jewellery missing

An elderly woman was found murdered at her house in Gurumurthy Reddy Layout, B Narayanapura in Mahadevapura police station limits, on Tuesday evening.

Police suspect it to be a murder for gain, as the gold ornaments the woman was wearing were missing.

Police gave the name of the victim as Kondamma, 63. She was living alone in a portion of the two-storey house on the ground floor, while her son Srinivasulu and family lived on the first floor. Srinivasulu works as an electrical contractor.

On Tuesday around 7.15 pm, one of their relatives Kavita called Srinivasulu and informed him that his mother Kondamma was not answering phone calls since afternoon. 

Srinivasulu rushed down to check on his mother, but found the main door locked. He entered the house using a spare key, police said. Srinivasulu told the police that he found his mother lying on the floor, and when he tried to pick her up and put her on the bed, he discovered she had been strangled with a saree. 

A senior police officer said that two gold chains, a pair of earrings and two gold bangles weighing about 120 gm were found missing. The family had last seen her on Tuesday morning.

The officer said there were no signs of forceful entry into the house, and from the scene of crime, it appeared that someone known to the woman might have murdered her. He said that labourers working at a nearby under-construction building often visited Kondamma’s house to watch television. 

Some of them have been detained for questioning and a special team has been formed to investigate the case, the officer added.