Woman Killed During Robbery Attempt in Delhi’s Safdarjung Enclave

According to the police, the couple had hired a security guard around two weeks back, who is reportedly missing.

Representative image of a crime scene.

(Photo: iStock)

An 88-year-old Kanta Chawla was stabbed to death on Saturday, 20 June, and her 94-year-old husband was tied up in the house located in Safdarjung Enclave in Delhi, police said, Hindustan Times reported.

According to the police, the couple lived alone and had hired a security guard around two weeks back, who is reportedly missing.

Chawla was stabbed when she attempted to resist the robbery bid and her husband, whom The Indian Express identified as a retired Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official, was forced to be seated on a sofa.

According to The Indian Express, the police said that the incident happened around 9 pm “when the security guard of the building arrived at the couple’s house along with two or three of his associates.”

“Before she (Kanta) could do anything, the men overpowered the couple and told them to sit on the sofa. Police said that Kanta tried to stop the men but one of them stabbed her with a sharp object and the she fell on the sofa,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) Devender Arya said, mentioned the Indian Express report.

The senior officials suspect robbery as the motive behind the incident. According to the police, the accused left the house with “all the money and jewellery.”

The police officials further said that they were informed when the husband alerted neighbours who, then, called the RWA president. The RWA president called the PCR.

Mentioning that a domestic help had been working at the couple’s house, an investigator said, “With her help, the couple had hired a security guard about a fortnight ago. He is missing. During the preliminary probe, three men were seen escaping in CCTV footages. One of them is possibly the security guard. The security guard was not verified by the police,” Hindustan Times reported.

An FIR has been registered into the matter and further investigation is underway.

(With inputs from The Indian Express, Hindustan Times)