The decomposed bodies of a man and a woman were found under mysterious circumstances inside a locked house at Govindpuri here on Tuesday night.
While the woman has been identified as 39-year-old Pavitra Devi, the identity of the man has not been established yet. Pavitra and Thapa, both Nepalese citizens, had taken the house on rent 11 months ago and had been living there.
Enquiries by the police revealed that on February 13, Pavitra had told her landlady Indra Devi that she and her husband would leave for their village in Nepal the following day.
According to the complaint made by the landlady’s son Deepak Dhingra, on February 15 Thapa was seen alone locking the door of the house.
A few days later, the neighbours started complaining about foul smell emanating from the house. However, as the smell became unbearable, Mr. Dhingra finally broke open the lock around 9 p.m. on Tuesday and discovered the two bodies in the bathroom, covered with a mattress. The bathroom door was bolted from outside.
A call was subsequently made to the police control room. Although the degree of decomposition suggested that the murders were committed over a week ago, the police said the post-mortem report would ascertain the timing and cause of deaths. “It was not possible to find out whether the victims had sustained any external injury,” said a police officer.
The key to the house was kept on a window ledge in the room, a police officer said.
Although the police did not confirm robbery as a possible motive, they said since the two had planned to visit their native place, investigations were also under way to find out if the two were having in their possession some cash and were targeted by robbers.
The police also plan to question all those known to the couple for clues.
“We are investigating all possible angles including illicit relationship, sex crime and robbery as motives. Since the male body has not been identified, Thapa’s involvement cannot be ruled out at this stage,” said the officer.
