Woman found dead at home, nephew held

On Monday night, a woman was found murdered with her throat slit under mysterious circumstances in her Nagpada house. The police, who suspected a relative’s role, has arrested the woman’s nephew for the murder.

The woman, a resident of Poojari chawl in Kamathipura area was identified as Mafrunissa Chowdhary (38) and is survived by her husband who is a menial labourer and two young daughters.

The Nagpada police said on Monday night they received a call at around 8.47 pm about a loud argument being heard from one of the houses in the area. When a patrol officer reached the place, he found a woman lying in a pool of blood and informed the police station. “Though the woman was rushed to the hospital she was declared dead on arrival,” said a senior officer from Nagpada police station.

Investigators say they suspected the involvement of a relative since there was no forced entry to the house or any robbery reported by the husband of the victim. “After we started questioning, we found that the woman had recently scolded one of her nephews (by marriage) about him not sending money to his father back in the village. He was also seen in the area at the time of the incident and hence he became our main suspect,” explained the officer.

The accused has been identified simply as Sonu, a worker with a garment factory in JJ Marg. “The accused is the victim’s husband’s brother’s son and recently his brother had complained to the victim about him not sending money from his salary leading to financial trouble at home. The victim had then scolded the accused regarding the same and asked him to send the money regularly,” said the officer.

According to the Nagpada police, the accused had visited the victim’s house on Monday and they had an argument about the money issue. During the argument, Sonu allegedly got angry and assaulted her and also tried to strangle her but found that she did not die. “He then went into the kitchen and found a knife and used that to slit the throat of the victim. When neighbours gathered outside their house after hearing her cries for help, the accused fled from the scene,” the officer added.

On Tuesday, the police arrested Sonu from near the factory and have booked him for under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.