Bengaluru: An 80-year-old woman’s body was found stuffed inside a cupboard in her neighbour’s apartment in the same building on the outskirts of Bengaluru, police said.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that the victim, identified as Parvathamma, was murdered, police said .
Parvathamma was living with her son Ramesh and daughter-in-law Jyothi on the second floor of a building in Anekal near Bengaluru.
A manhunt has been launched for the prime suspect, a 26-year-old woman named Paval Khan. Paval, according to the police, was from West Bengal and was working in a garments factory in Karnataka.
The victim had reportedly left home last Saturday evening, saying that she was stepping out to buy beetle leaves. She could not be then traced by her family.
Ramesh said Paval had called his mother to her rented home three days before the crime came to light. “My wife had heard my mother speak to Paval around 5.30 pm on the day she disappeared. Initially, we did not suspect the woman because she had often visited us at our home in the past,” said Ramesh.
Ramesh had lodged a missing person complaint with the police. He also went to Paval’s apartment, but it was locked from the outside.
Police, during the search operation, found Parvathamma’s body stuffed inside a cupboard, with the limbs tied. Access to the cupboard was blocked by placing a bed against it. “The old woman was nowhere to be found after she was called by the accused. The victim’s family had removed the lock of the house in Anekal taluk where the accused lived and inspected it, after which they found the body in the cupboard,” said a senior police officer.
The jewellery on Parvathamma were all missing when her body was found, her son said.
In another incident, Talaghattapura police on Monday arrested a 60-year-old security guard who allegedly killed his bedridden wife by drowning her in the flooded cellar of an under-construction apartment on Sunday.
The suspect, Shankarappa, was working as watchman in an under-construction building on Turahalli 80 Feet Road and living with his family, comprising his wife and two children, in the same building. According to the police, Shankarappa’s wife, Shivamma, 50, had a paralytic attack and was bedridden for the last two years.
Shankarappa used to work and take care of his wife for the last two years. Frustrated with this, he decided to get rid of her and planned to throw her in the cellar which was flooded, according to the police.