Mumbai: 79-year-old woman fights robbers at home, gets strangled with dupatta

According to the police, the victim Vasanta Lakshminarayanan Iyer lived alone in her ground-floor flat of a four-storeyed building in Matunga Labour camp. On Tuesday evening, she was found in an unconscious state with a dupatta wound around her neck.

A 79-year-old woman on Tuesday was allegedly strangled to death by a gang of robbers in her Matunga home in Mumbai after she tried to fight them.

The Shahu Nagar police have registered a robbery and a murder case against unidentified people.

The victim Vasanta Lakshminarayanan Iyer lived alone in her ground-floor flat of a four-storeyed building in Matunga Labour camp, the police said.

On Tuesday evening, she was found unconscious on the floor by her maid with a dupatta wound around her neck, and the house in disarray.

The police were informed and Iyer was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.

The post-mortem report revealed that the cause of death was strangulation.

The police suspect that the victim had tried to fight the robbers and was killed in the process.

All the jewellery and cash were missing from the house, the police said claiming that more than one person was involved in the crime.

"The ornaments she was wearing were also stolen. And by looking at the condition of the cupboard, it looks like the robbers also stole the cash and other valuables. We have registered a case and are scrutinising the CCTV footage from the area to trace the accused," a senior police officer said.

"She stayed alone in the house ever since her two daughters moved out after marriage. One of them stays in Vasai, the other stays in Navi Mumbai," a neighbour said.

The victim often lent money on interest and was also involved in some small businesses to earn her livelihood, a source said.