Woman killed in Rohini flat

According to police,the two assailants had meticulously planned the robbery and knew Thakur’s daily routine. The entry to the house was “friendly”,the police said,since Thakur was expecting a friend to arrive for lunch.

The friend — a neighour named Anjali Khera — has told police that she walked in after the assailants had killed Thakur and were robbing the house. According to police,the duo threatened Khera with a knife and showed her Thakur’s body — to imply it would be her fate,too,if she dared raise alarm.

The duo then locked Khera in the bathroom,ransacked the house and left,the police said.

The police said everything was over in 45 minutes — they reportedly slipped past the guards into Friends Towers in Rohini’s Sector-9 around 1.30 pm,and left by 2.15 pm,before Thakur’s daughter Biddhi returned home from school.

Thakur’s husband Praveen had gone to pick up Biddhi,who was taking her Class XII Board practical examinations,from school. He dropped Biddhi at the apartment gate and went off for work.

The teen found the door of their second-floor flat open. Inside,there was blood in the drawing room — she found her mother dead in the bedroom.

Biddhi then heard sounds from the bathroom. She opened the door and found her mother’s neighbour and friend Anjali Khera inside.

Praveen Thakur said,“I rang Biddhi after a while to check why she had not called after reaching home. She told me about Mamta’s body.”

Anjali’s husband B S Khera,who is Praveen’s business partner,said,“My wife and Mamta had lunch together every day. She went to Mamta’s house at 2.15 pm as usual and found the two robbers inside.”

The police have registered a case of robbery and murder at Prashant Vihar police station. Police officials said there were stab wounds on her thigh and her throat was slit. There was also blood in the drawing room,suggesting a struggle.

A senior officer said,“The planning was meticulous — the household help who comes in the morning had left at 12.45 pm. Mamta’s mother-in-law,who stays with the family,had also gone to a relative’s house. We suspect the robbers entered around 1.30 pm,when there was no one but Mamta at home.

“Her lunch is delivered home around 1.30 pm; we suspect the robbers gained friendly entry as Mamta was expecting the lunch delivery man,followed by her friend.”

Her husband and two daughters — aged 17 and 13 — and a son aged 15 survive Mamta Thakur. Thakur runs a stock brokerage company in VC Chowk,about half-an-hour from the residence.