Woman found killed in south Delhi home

NEW DELHI: In a mysterious murder at south Delhi's Nauroji Nagar, a 31-year-old housewife was found dead by neighbours on Thursday afternoon after her four-year-old daughter returned from school and saw the house locked from outside.
The victim, Manju Joshi, was found on a chair with her hands and legs bound and her dupatta, which police said was used to strangulate her, tied around her, the neighbours said.
``There are two symmetrical cuts on her wrist and forearm in both hands. They look like cuts by a kitchen knife, although the weapon has not been recovered yet,'' said DCP (south) H G S Dhaliwal. The incident happened around 1pm, he said, adding that no valuables were missing.
Manju lived in the house with her daughter and husband, Mahendra Joshi, an assistant level official in the Indian Railways, was at work when the incident occurred. When the daughter came home from school around 1.30pm, she found the house locked from outside and went to a neighbour's house.
``I called Mahendra at work and after he had called home and got no response, he asked me to check. Manju didn't open the door despite repeated calls, so we opened the door and found her body in the bedroom. It was a disturbing sight,'' said one of the neighbours.
He added that Manju was dead when found, so they called the police. ``Mahendra saw the body and collapsed due to the shock. He is admitted in Safdarjung Hospital. None of Manju's relatives were in Delhi and are on their way from Chamoli and Haridwar in Uttaranchal,'' said Anoop, Mahendra's brother.
Police are yet to find a motive for the murder though they are almost certain that a person known to the victim was involved. ``Robbery is an unlikely motive because all the valuables are intact including a pair of gold earrings, gold bangles and a gold chain on the victim's body. The entry also looks friendly because there are no signs of any force. The cuts on her arms appear fishy and look like they were inflicted as an afterthought. We are quite certain that a known person was involved,'' said an officer from Sarojini Nagar police station.
Meanwhile, the body has been sent for a postmortem and reports are awaited. The neighbours are in a state of shock as this locality is supposed to be very safe. ``This is the first time that such a crime has happened here. I have been living here for 25 years and never have I felt remotely unsafe,'' said a resident.