Uzbek woman found dead in Bengaluru hotel, police suspect murder

Bengaluru:  A 27-year-old woman from Uzbekistan has been found dead under mysterious circumstances in a hotel room in central Bengaluru's Seshadripuram. Police suspect she was murdered. 

Zarina DJeparova was found lying motionless in her second-floor room by hotel staff around 11 pm on Wednesday. The staff had to open the room with a master key because the woman hadn't come out for a long time nor responded to multiple phone calls, according to police. 

The woman didn't have any marks on the body except for scratches on her face and was possibly smothered with a pillow, a senior police officer told DH. 

The hotel staff told police that the last time they saw her was when she paid the room rent of Rs 5,500 for the day to a staff member called Suraj around Wednesday noon. 

Around 10.30, Rahul, an agent who facilitated her check-in at the hotel, tried contacting her by phone. When she did not respond, he contacted the hotel. Housekeeping staff who went to check on Zarina found a 'Do not disturb' notice on the door. 

Rahul insisted that the hotel’s general manager check on her as he wanted to speak to her. 

At around 11 pm, the general manager and another staff member opened the door with the master key. They found her lying on the floor with a bedsheet wrapped over. A closer look revealed that she had died, and the staff called the police. 

Seshadripuram police and forensic experts, along with a sniffer dog squad, reached the scene subsequently. Samples, including fingerprints, have been collected from the scene, and the body has been sent for post-mortem. 

A Seshadripuram police officer close to the investigation said that the woman had arrived in Bengaluru on March 5 and booked the room for 10 days. He added that they had found her identification documents in the room and were examining them. The woman was here in Bengaluru on a tourist visa. 

The officer added that the room appeared untouched and no one else stayed with her. Police believe someone from outside had sneaked into the room and killed the woman. 

Police are examining the CCTV cameras in the hotel to see if someone from outside visited her. They also checked the ledger in the hotel but didn't find anything suspicious. 

For now, police have taken up a case of murder and are pursuing available leads.