The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Woman’s murder: police clueless about assailants

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 28, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Woman’s murder: police clueless about assailants

Special Correspondent

Police suspect they strangled her fearing she may scream

BANGALORE: Did the sound of the calling bell scare the robbers, forcing them to kill Asha Krishnamurthy at her Seshadripuram residence on Monday afternoon?

Police officers investigating the murder of the 38-year-old wife of businessman Krishnamurthy, suspect that the robbers were in the first-floor house when her daughter Shreya returned home from school at 3.10 p.m. and rang the bell.

The police suspect that the intruders smothered and strangled her with the lace of the sofa cover, fearing Ms. Krishnamurthy would scream.

When there was no response from her mother, 14-year-old Shreya assumed she was not in and went to her grandmother’s house on the adjoining road to collect the spare key.

The robbers had apparently escaped before Shreya returned in five minutes, a senior officer told The Hindu on Tuesday.

The robbers had made away with Asha’s gold bangles and “mangalsutra.” The gold ear studs on her, gold jewellery in lockers and other valuables at the house were intact. Apparently scared by the calling bell sound, robbers had left in a hurry, the officer said.

The police, who are clueless about the assailants, have constituted special teams to trace the killers.

Interrogation

They are also interrogating Manoj, an employee of Asha’s husband who owns an automobile spares shop in Hebbal, who was the last to speak to her.

Around 1.45 p.m. Manoj had collected lunch for Mr. Krishnamurthy and had had a chat with Asha, the police said.

Meanwhile, the autopsy conducted at Victoria Hospital on Tuesday has confirmed that Asha was smothered and strangled. There were no external injuries on her body and she was not sexually abused, the officer said quoting the autopsy report.

Incidentally, many murders of women reported from the Central division in the past decade have not been unsolved.

Unsolved cases

The oldest of these unsolved cases is the twin murder of Meena Rasquinah (75) and her domestic help Prema Mary (65) who were hacked to death at the former’s house on Convent Road in Ashoknagar police station limits in May 2001.

Similarly, investigations have reached dead end alsowith regard to the double murder of septuagenarian Indu Rajagopal and her sister at their flat in High Point apartments in High Grounds, the murder of an elderly woman Delci Vaz at her old bungalow on St. Mark’s Road and that of another elderly woman Nandini Rao at her house, also on St. Mark’s Road in the limits of Cubbon Park police station.

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