Aged woman’s murder mystery deepens

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The mystery surrounding the murder of a 75-year-old woman two days ago deepens as police are yet to nab the killers. The deceased has been identified as Shashikala Dinkarrao Kupatkar. Shashikala who was returning home after attending a religious programme (Haripath) was found missing suddenly on Thursday evening.

Her body was found in a well at the deserted place between Chowkawadi and Ladsaungi in Phulambri tehsil of the district on Friday. During the preliminary investigation, it was revealed that she was murdered brutally. The post-mortem report states that she was killed by strangling and choking.

The mystery shrouding the death of the aged woman continues even after two days of her death as no killer has been arrested so far. Shashikala was living at New ST Colony. She used to attend religious programme (Haripath) daily.

As usual, she along with her female friend went to Mandir at 4.30 pm on Thursday. She started returning home at 6.30 pm, but she did not reach home.

After a search up to 11 pm, her family members lodged a complaint with Mukundwadi Police Station.

Meanwhile, locals of Chowkawadi found sacks in suspicious circumstances at a well which is located within three to four km from Chowkawadi road in Phulambri. Police of Phulambri rushed to the spot and took out the gunny bags of the well.

They were surprised to see a dead body in the sack and started to search for her relatives. Phulambri police informed Shashikala’s family after finding the missing woman’s complaint of a similar description at Mukundwadi Police Station.

Her two married daughters are teachers while her son works as a recovery officer in Adarsh Bank. Her daughter-in-law is a housewife and two grand sons are college students.

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Planned murder

Initially, a case of accidental death was lodged while it turned out to be a murder on Saturday. She had two marks on her throat. All ornaments on her body were intact while one ring was missing.

After killing her, the killer put her in one sack while the second sack was kept on her head and the third sack was tied below her knee. The fourth gunny bag on kept near her stomach and all sacks were stiched from outside.

Police said that this revealed that the murders killed Shashikala with a plan. Police hoped that a case of murder would be registered by Sunday night. Two teams of city police and three squads of rural police are searching for murders.

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What are motives behind murder?

--One of the suspicions of murder appears to be robbery. But, the criminals have left her alive after robbing her ornaments or her body would have been thrown in darkness on the road. There is a question before the police as to why thieves behind the murder would put sacks above the head, on the stomach and below the knee of the victim.

--The questions like from where and when Shashikala went missing, are still unanswerable.

--The five police teams examined more than 60 footages of Closed Circuit TV cameras, but, did not find any vehicle carrying Shashikala.

--Three suspects, including one auto-rickshaw driver, are being grilled. However, police did not get any strong clue by Sunday.

--Police are also trying to get evidence through technical proof.