Charred body of woman found, police suspect suicide

The charred body of wife of a central government officer, who works with Central Public Works Department, has been found at her home in south Delhi’s R K Puram on Thursday evening. A suicide note written in Tamil has been recovered from the house, police said.

“God is calling me, I am leaving this world to meet him’’ was written in Tamil on the suicide note, said a senior police officer.

Jay Lakshmi, 48, a native of Tamil Nadu had been living in R K Puram’s sector-1 with her husband and a son who works as an engineer in Gurgaon, for the last five years.

On Thursday around 3.15 pm, when Avinash, 23, came home from office, he found that his mother was not opening the door despite him ringing the doorbell several times, said police.

“Avinash first rang the bell and knocked on the door several times. Then he shouted for his mother to open the door. However, all the attempts bore no fruits. Finally, with the help of some neighbours he broke open the door, and entered inside,’’ said a police officer investigating the case.

“In the lobby of the house, Avinash saw the charred remains of her mother, with a suicide note lying under a book in the other room. Then a PCR call was made around 3.40 pm,’’ said the officer.

Battling depression

The woman is believed to be battling depression for the last few years, and had become very religious due to it, said police.

However, according to neighbours, she used to get along very well with them and had celebrated Diwali on Wednesday night with her whole family.

A native of Tamil Nadu, Jay Lakshmi had settled in Delhi with her husband and son.

Her husband, Shivshankar, is an office superintend with the Central Public Works Department.
Police have sent the body to post-mortem and the investigation is on to find the motive behind death. Police are talking to the family members and neighbors.

Prima facie the act looks to be one of suicide. However, more light will be shed after the post-mortem report only, said a police officer.