Wife of ex-Union Min P Rangarajan found murdered

New Delhi: The 68-year-old wife of former Union Minister P. Rangarajan was smothered to death inside her house late on Tuesday by her neighbourhood washmerman and two other accused persons in a robbery bid here in Southwest Delhi's upscale Vasant Vihar locality, the Delhi Police has said.

The deceased have been identified as one Kitty Kumar Amanglam, who is also a lawyer, and was inside her house during the intervening night along with her maid. The accused washerman has been identified as one 24-year-old Raju. As per officials, it was a friendly entry as Raju had worked at the house for over five years.

The elderly lady's son is currently in Banglore while her daughter had gone to Gurgaon during the time of incident, an officer said. As per police officials, at around 9 PM last night, the regular washerman or dhobi of the house came and rang the bell. Subsequently, the domestic help, one Mithila, opened the door following which she was overpowered by the accused who further dragged her to one of the rooms and restrained her before tying her up with a rope.

"In the meantime, his two other associates entered the house, overpowered the elderly lady and smothered her using a pillow," DCP (Southwest) Ingit Pratap Singh said.

Police has claimed that the accused persons decamped with some valuables like money and jewellery stored inside the house. Thereafter, the maid somehow untied herself and raised an alarm and called her neighbours to rescue them.

The DCP claimed that they received a PCR call at around 11 PM regarding the incident following which several teams were formed and the washerman Raju, a resident of Bhanwar Singh camp in the area, was rounded up. On interrogation, Raju disclosed the name of his two associates following which one Rakesh Raj (34) was nabbed, police said. "Briefcases were seen open at the scene of crime," the DCP said. Manju has been shifted to a hospital where she is recuperating, police said.

Raj, a resident of Munirka village, works as a driver with the Ministry of External Affairs on a contract basis, police said. "He is a close friend of the main accused Raju, who had prepared the plan to rob the deceased's house…" DCP Singh said, adding that Raj's share of Rs. 60,000 was recovered from his possession. The third accused has been absconding, officials said.

"During his interrogation, Rakesh disclosed that Raju tried to smother the maid Mithila too, but she kept moving a lot and they wanted to escape the spot as soon as possible…," the DCP added.

Her husband Rangarajan Kumaranamangalam, who passed away in 2000, was a prominent politician and Member of Parliament from Salem constituency and later Trichy constituency. He had later served as a Union Minister in the Vajpayee government.