Gurugram police arrest two, solve murder of old lady in DLF 1

The Gurugram police here on Thursday claimed to have solved the case of murder of 72-year-old Indira Narula in upscale DLF phase 1 with the arrest of two accused.

While one accused, Dudha Kumar, was arrested from the Old Delhi railway station on Wednesday while he was planning to escape to his Karalia village in the Nadia district of West Bengal, his accomplice Gautam Das, native of the same village, had been arrested on August 8 from the village.

According to Subhash Bokan, PRO of Gurugram police, the motive behind the crime was to rob the unmarried old woman. Kumar, a labourer, had been earlier hired by the deceased for repairing a wall of her house. He had come to know that she was rich as she always wore jewelleries and was living alone.

Kumar hatched the robbery-cum-murder plan and got Das, an auto driver, involved in it. On August 2, while Kumar made a friendly entry, Das entered the house through kitchen by jumping the wall, the PRO said.

They strangulated Narula with her dupatta (a long piece of cloth worn around the head, neck, and shoulders by women) and looted valuables, including gold bangles, chain, rings and cash from a cupboard, Bokan said.

The murder came to light, when Indira's sister Devika Narula, who lives in in Sushant Lok phase 1 and maintained regular contact through phone, visited her sister's house as she was not picking the phone. She found the door open and Indira laying unconscious on the ground.

"It was a blind case of murder. Preliminary investigation didn't throw up any clue. Even the footage of CCTV, installed at the adjoining house, did not show any suspicious movement.

"The police questioned over 200 labourers living in the Sikandarpur area, including Kumar. We also enquired about people who had left the area after the murder. We came to know that Das had left soon after the murder and was considered a suspect," Bokan said.

Das was arrested on August 8, but it was not revealed as the police wanted not to alert the prime suspect. By that time, Kumar had left Sikandarpur for a new place.

"We mounted a technical surveillance, and located him at the Old Delhi railway station and arrested him from there on Wednesday evening," Bokan said.

During interrogation, both confessed to the crime.

( With inputs from IANS )