Mumbai: Woman killed, burnt under pile of newspapers

Mumbai: A 46-year-old woman was brutally murdered in her sixth-floor flat at Malwani in Malad (West) on Monday evening and the killers attempted to burn the victim by placing newspapers on her body and setting it ablaze. The victim identified as Suzanna Alwin Rodrigues suffered two stab injuries, was strangulated and her face was partially burnt. The victim, who is the mother of two girls, was alone in the flat when the crime is believed to have been committed, but the police are uncertain about motive and time of death.

Suzanna’s 11-year-old daughter returned from school on Monday evening and rang the doorbell repeatedly, but did not get any response. She waited outside and her 16-year-old sister returned from college a while later. Despite calling on Suzanna’s mobile number and repeatedly knocking and ringing the doorbell, their mother did not open the door. The girls also smelled something burning inside the flat and rushed to Suzanna’s friend Camello’s residence nearby for help.

A Shaikh, senior inspector with the Malwani police station, said that Camello reached the spot and broke open the door with help from the neighbours and alerted the police after finding Suzanna’s body beneath a stack of smouldering newspapers. The police reached the spot and discovered that the victim’s face was partially burnt.

The body was sent for a post-mortem to Bhagwati hospital and the doctors informed the police that besides burns to the face, the victim had been strangled and stabbed twice in the abdomen. The doctors ascertained the cause of death to stabbing. “In spite of the stab wounds, there was no blood at the crime scene. The killers might have cleaned up the blood before leaving the house,” Shaikh said.

Suzanna’s husband Alwin, who works at a private firm in Bahrain, was questioned upon his return to the city on Tuesday morning. In his statement to the police, Alwin said that Camello was a frequent visitor to the flat, which he did not like. “Alwin’s statement mentions that Camello was Suzanna’s friend and he visited their house often, which he did not like. Whenever he asked Suzanna, she said that they were just friends. Camello is currently being questioned,” said Shaikh.