Grandson booked for murder of elderly woman in Kalyaninagar flat

PUNE: A day after a highly-decomposed body of a 67-year-old woman was found under a heap of clothes in the bedroom of her rented fifth floor flat in a housing society in Kalyaninagar on Thursday night, the Yerawada police on Friday booked her grandson for committing the murder.
“We have booked the victim’s grandson, Bhushan Sanjay Gautam, under section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after investigations established his involvement in the crime,” said Yunus Shaikh, senior inspector, Yerawada Police Station on Saturday.
“Investigations have prima facie revealed that the suspect was addicted to liquor and killed the elderly woman in a fit of rage for not giving him Rs 2.5 lakh. He then fled to Himachal Pradesh,” Shaikh said.
“Gautam’s involvement came to light after a detailed inquiry was conducted with the victim’s family members and relatives,” he added.
The Himachal Pradesh police recently arrested Gautam in a Rs 1.70 lakh debit card fraud case registered under section 379 of the Indian Penal Code with the BSL police station at Mandi district.
“He is in police custody remand till September 30,” Shaikh told TOI.
He said, “We have obtained production warrant from a magisterial court in Pune for transfer of his custody in the murder case for conducting an investigation. A police team has reached there to complete the legal formalities and take him into custody.”
After Chandani Chouhan’s body was found, police prime facie suspected that she might have died seven to eight days ago.
As bloodstains were found on the bedroom floor, police suspected it to be a case of murder.
Her household articles were scattered all over the place, and a pickaxe was recovered from the hall.
A senior police officer said, “Though no bloodstains were found on the blade of the pickaxe, we suspected that a person known to the victim may have either used a pillow to smother the victim or may have hit her on the head with the wooden handle of the pickaxe. Investigations revealed that no outsider had visited the woman’s residence.”
The victim’s post-mortem was performed at the Sassoon general hospital.
The medical officer has preserved her viscera for seeking an expert opinion and reserved the cause of her death, police said.
Meanwhile, police officials held a meeting with the residents of Sun Shine Court society as they were in a state of fear following the incident. “We have informed the residents about the involvement of the victim’s grandson in the murder,” he added.
A family in Kalyaninagar had hired the services of Chouhan as a governess to look after their relative, a 80-year-old man. Chouhan had moved to Pune a year-and-a half ago. The family had rented a 1BHK flat in the apartment where she was living alone. Her daughter died in an accident in 2005.Gautam lived with her for a fortnight prior to her death.