Cops probe murder after stab wounds found on 72-year-old

NEW DELHI: A 72-year-old woman initially believed to have died in a road accident in east Delhi's Mandawali on Tuesday was actually murdered, police claimed.
The woman's death was thought to be the result of an accident, but at the hospital the cops noticed several piercings on her body. These wounds are now considered to be stab injuries. Accordingly, police have filed an FIR for homicide and launched a murder investigation.
As the primary line of probe, the cops are looking at the numerous family properties that the woman managed.The possibility of having been killed after misidentification and personal enmity, including with a cart owner, are being also probed. Two men seen on footage from a CCTV camera are under the scanner.
Police received two PCR calls around 2.30pm on Tuesday, the first about a woman being stabbed by two men and the second about the woman being rushed to a hospital. A police team reached the hospital where they were informed that the woman had been taken to another hospital.
Amrutha Guguloth, DCP (East), said, "The initial medical report received from the hospital where the woman was first taken said it was trauma due to a road accident. At the second hospital, we learnt the woman had succumbed to her injuries." However, when the body was examined, the police personnel noticed multiple piercings like those made by a big needle or an ice pick. "The left shoulder, face, side of the chest, waist and back all had these wounds," said Guguloth. "The doctors at the hospital opined that these were injuries caused by a sharp object. Accordingly, a case for murder was registered."
The woman was identified as Sudha Gupta, a 72-year-old housewife, who had lost her husband around 12 years ago. She had three sons and two daughters. Two of her sons are doctors while the third is a property dealer. The daughters are married. The family owned several properties, all of which were looked after by the septuagenarian.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the woman was attacked while she was on her way home in Laxmi Nagar after collecting the rent from one of her properties in Mandawali. Police sources said that a quarrel had taken place between the deceased woman and a cart vendor over the latter carrying out business from outside her house in Mandawali. The man had apparently threatened the woman.
The cops said they were exploring this enmity plus the possibility of a property-related motive for the killing of the elderly woman. Robbery appeared an unlikely cause because her belongings were found intact, an officer said.