Bangalore, Apr 22, 2013, DHNS:

A 78-year-old woman was strangled to death at Jayanagar on Monday, while her sisters were assaulted by a plumber, who decamped with gold jewellery.

The victim, identified as Chandra Narasimhan, was a resident of Jayanagar 6th Block, next to the Aiyappa temple. She was married to B K Narasimhan, a renowned architect who passed away a couple of years ago. Her elder daughter Chitra Narasimhan, a pediatrician with Jayadeva Hospital and sisters, Munilakshmamma (88), a retired doctor and Sharada (80), stayed with her.

On Monday morning, Chitra left for her workplace. The plumber, Ramachandra, who has been working at the house for the last 10 days, arrived on time. As he was being escorted to the bathroom on the first floor of the house, he attacked Munilakshamma and Sharada.

Munilakshamma fell unconscious when Ramachandra tried to strangle her. When she regained consciousness, she found Sharada locked up in a room and Chandra dead in the ground floor. The sisters alerted Chitra, who rushed home immediately.

Soon after reaching home at 1:40 pm, Chitra alerted the Jayanagar police. The plumber was known to the family and had carried out many repair works in the house earlier.

H S Revanna, DCP (South), told Deccan Herald that Chandra did not sustain any external injuries. She was probably strangled with bare hands. He added that the assailant escaped with three gold chains, earrings and a couple of gold bangles of the sisters,. However, all other valuables were in place.

Revanna said prima facie, the murder was for gain and two special teams have been formed to investigate into the case.

Plumber regularly carried out repairs at victim’s house

Ramachandra, the absconding plumber whose brutal assault on three elderly sisters resulted in the death of one, was known to the family as he has been doing all minor repair and plumbing work at their house in Jayanagar 4th ‘T’ Block for the last many years, according to Rekha, the youngest daugther of deceased Chandra Narasimhan.

He had been engaged to carry out minor repairs of the sump, drain, etc, at the 50-year-old house and was at the job since the last 10 days.
Having arrived for work as usual on Monday morning, Ramachandra attacked the sisters soon after Dr Chitra, Chandra’s daughter, left home for work.

Narasimhamurthy, who has been running a provision store opposite the house and is a family friend of the Narasimhans, said Ramachandra’s elder brother Janakiram, who lived a few blocks away, used to carry out repairs earlier at the sisters’ house and was known to him.

Ramachandra was working under his brother. However, they separated a couple of years ago following differences between them. Ramachandra, a habitual drinker, replaced Janakiram, who ventured into real estate, at the Narasimhans’ house.

He said after the incident came to light, he called up Janakiram who was shocked to learn about his brother’s brutal act and volunteered to take the police to Ramachandra’s house in Parappana Agrahara.
The police team, however, did not find Ramachandra at home, as he is at large.

Presence of mind

The sharp presence of mind and resilience shown by Munilakshmamma, 88, a retired doctor and spinster, the eldest of the three sisters, has left police deeply impressed.

According to a senior police officer, as soon as he entered their house, the elderly woman called him and wrote Ramachandra’s name and mobile phone number on a piece of paper. She then asked the officer to track down the offender.

She also told police that Ramachandra had tried to strangle her on the first floor in front of her room. However, she resisted the assault and screamed for help. Minutes later, she fell unconscious, but recovered after sometime.

She then rescued her sister, Sharada, who was locked in a room on the first floor. Ramachandra had also tried to strangle her but panicked when she screamed and instead locked her up.

Descending down, the two sisters saw Chandra lying dead.

Munilakshmamma immediately alerted Dr Chitra, Chandra’s daughter. Still in state of shock, Chitra shifted them to Jayadeva Hospital.

The deceased Chandra, according to her elder brother Muniyappa who stays at JP Nagar, was the weakest of the three sisters, though the youngest.

Having suffered a stroke some years ago, she was unable to speak properly and could not walk unaided. “She couldn’t have sustained the assault on her,” he said.