Elderly couple, domestic help found dead in Vasant Vihar house

The bodies of an elderly couple and their caretaker were found with their throats slit at a house in southwest Delhi's Vasant Vihar on Sunday morning, police said.

The deceased were identified as Vishnu Mathur (78) and Shashi Mathur (75), both retired government officials, and Khushbu Nautiyal (24), the police said.

Vishnu had retired from the office of the Central Government Health Scheme and Shashi from a civic body in New Delhi. They had been living at Vasant Apartments for nearly 18 years.

Nautiyal, who was their caretaker, stayed at their house and had been working with them for the last five-six months, neighbours claimed.

According to the police, they received a PCR call at 8.50 am and another at 8.55 am.

A domestic help, Bubbly, 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.

On reaching the spot, the police found Nautiyal lying on the floor with stab injuries. The bodies of the couple were found on the bed with their throats slit, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Devender Arya said.

The officer said the entry was friendly and they were suspecting the involvement of an acquaintance of Nautiyal in the killings. They, however, have ruled out robbery as a motive.

They are also scanning CCTV cameras installed in the colony 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 after people gathered outside their house.

"Aunty (Shashi) has been 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.

Her husband Sharat said "They were good people. I often assisted uncle when he wanted to go to other places in case of an emergency."

Another neighbour, Rupa claimed that the couple hardly stepped out of the house and it had been a couple of months since she last had seen them.

"Their son had died in his 20s after meeting with an accident at Teen Murti Marg in 1982. Uncle and aunty had then moved here. After his tragic death, aunty became depressed. She often used to talk to us about her son and shared fond memories of him," she said.

"Uncle would rarely step out. Just two years ago, he was operated on his knee. His daughter often insisted that they move in with her but uncle was not keen on leaving the house. He had hearing issues and was a BP patient too," she added.

A case has been registered and their statement of the daughter, the domestic help and relatives have been taken, the police said, adding that raids are being conducted to nab the suspects.

The bodies have been sent for post-mortem, they said.