Mumbai, June 10: Laxmi Nanji Sangoi was looking forward to August 4 when both her sons were due to fly in from the US for her 75th birthday. Instead, the widow who lived alone was found dead on Tuesday morning in her Shivaji Park flat with her throat slit.
The body was discovered by Bhanuben, the domestic helper employed by Sangoi.
This is the eighth homicide involving a senior citizen this year and comes close on the heels of the murder of 65-year-old Naigaum resident Badrinath Kulkarni, who was stabbed to death in his flat on March 19 by robbers who also seriously injured his wife. What made Sangoi all the more vulnerable was the fact that she was the only resident in the one-storey structure, Hendre Castle, on Gokhale Road. Two other rooms on the ground floor and one on the first floor had been rented out as offices. Sangoi did not interact with any of the tenants.
Around 30 relatives and friends of the victim gathered in the flat on Tuesday evening and spoke in hushed tones. “She gave a lot to charity and even worked actively with the Dadar Mahila Griha Udyog, a self-help group for women,’’ said one of her relatives.
Kshiti Gala, granddaughter of the victim, said Bhanuben discovered the body at 11.30 am. According to the police, the victim lay face up in a pool of blood. The police say she was first stabbed in the back before being stabbed in the chest and slashed in the neck.
Investigators who visited the scene of the crime discounted robbery as the motive. “The killer/s did not take any valuables from the victim’s body or from the house. However, one of the cupboards in the bedroom was ransacked. We are examining whether there was a property dispute behind the crime,’’ said a police officer from Shivaji Park police station.
“It’s likely that someone known to the victim must have committed the crime because the body was found in the kitchen which is just beside the bedroom. Had the attacker/s been strangers, there would have been a struggle in the hall itself, as the victim was in good health. It seems that the suspect had easy access into the flat,’’ the officer said.
Sangoi has two daughters and two sons, Nilesh and Kiran. There were three persons employed by her as domestics. “Bhanuben and another domestic helper, Prakash, had been working with her for many years,’’ said Kshiti.
—Agencies