NEW DELHI: In a shocking incident that has rocked the national capital, an elderly couple and their caretaker were found with their throats slit at a house in southwest Delhi’s Vasant Vihar locality on Sunday morning.
Police identified the deceased as retired government officials Vishnu Mathur, 78, and Shashi Mathur, 75, and Khushbu Nautiyal, 24. Vishnu had retired from the office of the Central Government Health Scheme and Shashi from a civic body.
They had been living in Vasant Apartments for nearly 18 years.
Nautiyal, the caretaker, stayed at their house and had been working with them for the last five-six months, informed neighbours.
Police said a PCR call was received at 8.50 am and another at 8.55 am. Domestic help Babli, who came to the house twice a day, found the door of the residence slightly ajar and spotted blood.
She immediately informed the neighbours who then called up the police who sent the bodies for autopsy.
“Police found Nautiyal lying on the floor with stab injuries. The bodies of the couple were found on the bed with their throats slit,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Devender Arya.
The officer said the entry was not forced and the involvement of an acquaintance of Nautiyal is suspected in the killings. Police, however, have ruled out robbery as a motive. They are scanning CCTV cameras to identify the accused, the officer added.
Vishnu’s niece Vibha Srivastava said the couple’s daughter Anita lived with her husband in Greater Kailash and she regularly visited them, usually in the evenings.
A neighbour of the Mathurs, Usha Singh, said she got to know about the incident only when people gathered outside their house.
“Aunty (Shashi) was bed-ridden for the last one-and-a-half years. She could barely walk and was a diabetic. I last saw her during winters when she was being taken to a hospital for check-up. I recall seeing uncle (Vishnu) some 20 days ago when he was taking a walk,” Singh said.
Couple mostly confined themselves to house
Another neighbour claimed the elderly couple hardly stepped out of the house and it had been a couple of months since she had last seen them. Police have lodged a case and began probe.