The medical board has reserved the findings of autopsy performed on the body of Khemlata Devi, wife of Tata Steel employee, to further examine the point of rape angle. It is suspected that the victim had been sexually abused before being stabbed to death, though the police are yet to confirm about the rape angle.
The 43-year-old woman, who was wife of a Tata Steel employee, was murdered at her residence on Tansa Road in Kadma late on Tuesday. Her last rites were performed at Parvati Ghat in Bistupur after a funeral procession was taken out from the victim’s parents’ house in Sonari on Thursday morning.
Though 48 hours have elapsed since the murder took place at densely-populated area in Kadam, police have not been able to find any clue.
“It is a complicated case and we need to work on all the angles. We are making all efforts to find out a clue and nab the killer,” said officer-in-charge, Kadma thana, Animesh Gupta. The woman was found scantily covered when her husband Kartik Ram first discovered her at the residence, said Gupta.
“As per our findings she was murdered with very little cloth on her body, there was no apparent sign of rape. Therefore the case has become more tough to crack,” said the officer-in-charge.
Police on Wednesday night picked up four people who had gathered at an adjoining residential quarter of Kartik Ram on Tansa Road a day before his wife was murdered.
The officer-in-charge said that the relation between husband and wife was not cordial as they had a tiff in opinion over installing CCTV camera at the residence.
“We have come to know that Kartik Ram (55) wanted to get CCTV cameras at his residence where as Khemlata used to oppose it. We have come to know about the reason behind Kartik’s move for installing the surveillance camera in such a two-room residential quarters,” said Gupta.
Meanwhile, Kartik Ram on Thursday has claimed that the assailants have decamped with gold ornaments from his almirah beside the two cell-phones.
A senior police officer said when Kartik had wanted to search keys for locking the almirah, he discovered that the ornament boxes kept in the locker were empty and the jewellery were missing.