Police solves mystery over suspicious death of a woman COVID-19 patient in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital

June 15, 2021 11:30 pm | Updated 11:30 pm IST - CHENNAI

The police has solved the mystery over the death of a woman whose body was found under suspicious circumstances a week ago on the eighth floor of the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH).

Police said it was a case of murder for gain and that she was strangled to death.

The decomposed body of a woman was found on the eighth floor of Tower-3 of the RGGGH on June 8. Her identity was not immediately known. Later Mowli, of West Tambaram, identified the body as that of his wife Sunitha, 41, who was admitted for treatment of COVID-19, at the hospital on May 21. She had been missing since May 23. Her body was sent for a post-mortem examination. A case was registered under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code for suspicious death.

Based on the post-mortem results, which revealed marks on her neck, the police intensified its investigation on the suspicion that it was a murder. Special teams were constituted to trace the suspect. The investigation revealed that on the day of the murder, Rathi Devi, 40, of Tiruvottiiyur, a staff of a private conservancy firm, took Sunitha out from the ward.

During interrogation, Rathi Devi told the police that she had planned to rob Sunitha. On May 23, she took Sunitha out on a wheelchair on the pretext of doing a scan and after reaching the eighth floor, she strangled her to death and dumped the body there since people rarely went to the floor. She then decamped with ₹9,500 and a mobile phone.

Police arrested Rathi Devi and remanded in judicial custody.

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