Mumbai Crime: 67-year-old woman found murdered in Mulund flat

Building where Visariya was found dead. Pics/Rajesh Gupta

A 67-year-old woman was found dead in her flat in Mulund West on Monday afternoon. Preliminary investigations show that the senior citizen was smothered by a pillow by an unknown person. Two cupboards were found open with personal items and documents lying strewn on the floor. The woman was still wearing her gold ornaments when her body was found.

The woman, identified as Rukshmani Damji Visariya, lived on the third floor of Trivedi Bhavan in Mulund. "She was living alone in the one-bedroom flat. Her elder son Mehul lived on the first floor of the building," said an officer from Mulund police station. "The woman has three sons. The other two lives at some distance from the woman's house," an officer added.

Rukshmani Visariya

On Monday afternoon, when a salesgirl working in one of her son's shops went to the woman's house to use the washroom she found the door open. "When she peeped inside, she found Rukshmani lying on the bed. When she tried to wake up the elderly woman, she found her non-responsive and immediately called Nitin Visariya, the woman's son whom she works for, who called his elder brother Mehul and eventually the police," said a resident of the building on condition of anonymity.

When the Mulund cops arrived at the flat they found Visariya dead. "There was a pillow next to her face and we suspect she must have been smothered with a pillow till she died," another officer said. "Two cupboards in the flat were found open with items inside it lying on the floor. But the ornaments the woman was wearing are intact," officer added.

According to sources, "Rukshmani had gone to Palitana, Gujarat, last week for some rituals. She had come back on Sunday morning. On Sunday night, she had gone to Mehul's flat where she found him unwell." DCP (Zone 7) Akhilesh Kumar Singh said, "According to neighbours, they heard the mother and son have a loud argument at night. We have registered a case of murder and are investigating."

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates