New Delhi: In a nerve-wrenching incident, a 50-year-old woman and her two daughters, aged 19 and nine years, were found murdered at their residence in northeast Delhi's Brahmapuri area on Sunday evening.
The incident came to light around 6.30 pm when neighbours called up police complaining of intolerable stench emanating from their house, which was locked from outside.
When it was opened, the highly decomposed bodies of the three were found, a senior official said.
The victims were identified as Saira, 50, and her daughters Mehrunisha,19, and Shabnam, 9, he said.
They had multiple stab injuries and Saira's throat was found slit with a sharp weapon, the official said.
Police suspect they were sexually assaulted too before their throats were slit. They probably died of excessive blood loss, though the mother had stab wounds all over her body. The mother's body was found on the second floor while the daughters were found dead on the first, police told The Times of India.
Prima facie, they died at least three days ago.
While Mehrunisha's body was found in a bedroom on the first floor of the house, Shabnam's body was found shoved inside a bathroom.
The killer dragged Saira's body and left it at the staircase leading towards the terrace.
The house was in a disorganised state, suggesting the possibilities of robbery and a scuffle between the victims and the killer, he said.
A case of murder has been registered and the matter is being probed, the senior official said.
The bodies have been sent for postmortem.
Neighbours said the house was owned by the woman's former husband who had divorced her five years ago and married another woman with whom he had an affair for long and had two children with. The man died a couple of years ago and the second wife's family had been harassing his first wife for property.
While Saira and her daughters lived in the first floor of the house, the ground floor was rented out to a man, who is missing for the past four days.
The tenant suspectedly had a one-sided love affair with Mehrunisha.
Some relatives have been questioned and CCTV grabs obtained from the locality are being checked.
Efforts are on to trace the missing tenant, the senior official added.
PTI inputs
