An elderly couple was found murdered by unidentified persons in north-west Delhi's Ashok Vihar on Saturday. Police suspect the role of their attendant behind the murder.
“The deceased have been identified as 79-year-old Ramlal Bhutani and his 74-year-old wife Kaushal Bhutani. Ramlal used to work in the accounts section of the audit department in the Ministry of Home Affairs and his wife Kaushal was a retired teacher from Kendriya Vidyalaya in Keshavpuram,” said a senior police officer.
The officer said while Ramlal was found with his throat slit, injury marks from a sharp object were found on Kaushal's head. The belongings of their house were also found scattered, raising suspicion that it was a case of robbery followed by murder.
Police also said that the couple used to keep an attendant for taking care of them from 10 am to 10 pm and for night duty they had kept another help.
“For taking care of them, Dulal Sarkar, a native of West Bengal and a resident of Begumpur in Delhi, has been working at their house for the last eight years. A year back, the couple employed another help identified as Dinesh, a resident of Jahangirpuri in Delhi, to look after them at night. On August 26 this year, Ramlal was discharged from a hospital after undergoing a surgery,” said the police officer.
On Saturday, Kaushal’s relative, who stays in Greater Kailash, called Dulal Sarkar at 8 am. However, the couple was not attending their calls.
Kaushal’s brother had died a few days back and she was supposed to attend his funeral on Saturday.
"Kaushal's relative told Dulal to go check on them as they were supposed to come to the funeral. When Dulal reached their house he was shocked to see a lock on the front door of the house as the couple would never put a lock on the front door but instead lock it from inside. Even when they had to go somewhere, they would leave from their back door and put a lock there. They would also inform their neighbours," said the officer.
When Dulal enquired with the neighbours they also denied having any knowledge as to where the couple went. Finally, with the growing suspicion, he called the police. The police broke open the front door and found the couple murdered.
"Ramlal was found on his bed in a pool of blood with his throat slit while Kaushal was lying face down on the floor and blood was oozing from her head. She also had injury marks on her face," said the officer.
After police found the bodies, Dulal immediately called Dinesh who said that he had no idea about the elderly couple as he had to leave early in the morning for his village for some urgent work. This raised suspicion about Dinesh's role in the murder.
After the case was registered in Bharat Nagar Police Station, a police team has gone to Dinesh's house in Jahangirpuri to question his family.