March 30, 2009 3:02:42 am
Strangulation suspected; police examine role of other helps; kin say 50-yr-old killed by her employers
A 50-year-old domestic help was found dead in mysterious circumstances at her employers house in the Hauz Khas area of South district on Sunday. According to police,preliminary investigations point to strangulation as the cause of death.
The owner of the house G-16,Green Park is Devendra Kumar Jain who runs a paper business in the Chawri Bazar area of Central district. He
lives in the house with his wife Indu and two sons.
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While the police suspect the role of other domestic helps working in the house,with one of them missing since Saturday,the relatives of Rambeti,the deceased,accused the Jains of killing her. The Jain family,however,denied the allegation.
The police said the body of Rambeti,a resident of Chhattarpur,was found in a room on the third floor of the house in the morning. Rambeti was employed four days ago. She would usually come during the day and leave in the evening. Jagdish,her son,used to drop and pick her up every day. When he came to take her home on Saturday,he was told by the Jain family that Rambeti had left for the day, said a police officer.
Jagdish went home but when Rambeti did not return till late in the night,he lodged a missing complaint with the Hauz Khas police. He said: When I came to the Green Park house today,the family members told me to check out the servants room. I found my mother lying dead there .
Calling them the culprits,Jagdish said the Jain family lied to him on Saturday that Rambeti had left for home.
The police said the motive behind the murder was not clear and that they were waiting for the postmortem report. Investigation officers said they were questioning Chetan (20),another domestic help in the house. Chetan is from Bahraich,Uttar Pradesh. A third help,Rohan,meanwhile,has been missing since Saturday,according to the police.
The deceaseds relatives gathered outside Jains house in the afternoon and demanded action against the family. The angry mob hurled stones at the house and broke the windowpanes of Jains Skoda car parked outside. They protested for about two hours before the police dispersed them.
Rambetis daughter Gudiya said: The owners of the house should be arrested. How is it possible that there was a dead body in their house and they didnt come to know of it? No one from the Jain family was available for comments and all members remained inside the house as the protest and police investigation continued.
A case of murder under Section 302 against unknown persons was registered at the Hauz Khas police station. Police sources said initial investigations suggested that the two male domestic helps were planning a robbery,which Rambeti came to know. It might be the reason behind the murder,but our investigations are on, said an officer.
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