Woman bludgeoned, masseur suspected

KOLKATA: A 40-year-old woman was bludgeoned to death with a nut-cracker and a grinding stone in her Dhakuria apartment on Wednesday afternoon.
The prime suspect is a 23-year-old girl, the caretaker's daughter, who lived in the same complex and worked as a masseur.
A sack packed with the victim's jewellery and money, and another stuffed with suspect Deepali Maity's bloodstained clothes make it an open-and-shut case, police say.Deepali and her father have been detained.
The murder came to light around 5 pm when Shukla Dey's domestic help Brihaspati — Deepali's elder sister — arrived for the evening chores at the Dhakuria Station Lane flat. Finding the door open, she entered the apartment to find Shukla lying in a pool of blood in the bedroom.
Brihaspati's screams alerted next-door neighbour Shantimoy Dey, who is Shukla's cousin.
"The bedroom was ransacked. The almirahs were ajar and things were strewn all around," she told the police. Officers examining the body found two massive blows to the back of Shukla's head. A bloodstained betel nut-cracker and grindstone lay a few feet away.
Police searched the complex and found two bags stashed in the rear of the building. One contained gold ornaments from Shukla's flat and the other had some dresses soaked in blood. It was the dresses that gave the assailant away, police say.
Residents identified the clothes as Deepali's. Brihaspati confirmed this, but refused to believe her younger sister could have committed such a violent crime.
According to Shukla's family, she had lately engaged Deepali, who had apparently done a course in physiotherapy, to treat her joint aches.
"Deepali would give her a massage every afternoon," Shukla's husband Alok Dey said.
The police suspect Deepali tried to steal valuables while Shukla was asleep. She was probably caught red-handed when Shukla woke up. In a fit of desperation, Deepali might have attacked Shukla with the betel nut-cracker and then bashed her head with the grinding stone.
Deepali reportedly tried to flee but was spotted by a neighbour.