New Delhi: A 76-year-old retired vice-principal of a school was found smothered to death at his residence in North-West Delhi’s Ashok Vihar area this morning.
Police said that the deceased was identified as Pratap Singh Dahiya who was found lying face down inside a store room at his house. He had retired as vice-principal with a government school in Keshavpuram.
As per preliminary investigations, murderers were known to Dahiya and had a friendly entry into the house. His house was ransacked by the killers who managed to flee with some valuables.
The body of Dahiya was found around 10 AM by a house hold help who found the door to his house open. When he entered Dahiya’s house, he found the rooms ransacked and informed the police about this. Dahiya was found lying with blood oozing out of his nose inside a store room locked from outside.
Police said that Dahiya was staying alone at the ground floor of his house at Satywati Colony as his wife had recently gone to visit their son in US. Dahiya’s daughter, however, stays with her family nearby.
DCP (north-west) Vijay Singh said that the body has been sent to a government hospital and a case of murder and robbery registered, adding that a manhunt has been launched to nab the criminals.
Singh further said that police have rounded up a few people including a former household help for questioning.
Police have also recovered CCTV footage from the colony to identify the bikers suspected to be involved in the murder.