Cops suspect robbery linked to Jal Board employee’s murder

A senior Delhi Jal Board (DJB) employee, who was found dead inside a flat in Northwest Delhi’s Begumpur, was likely killed during a robbery, the police said on Wednesday. The decomposed body of Suresh Kumar Rathi (59) was found inside his first floor flat with a stab injury on his neck on Monday, they added.

The police suspect that the murder was committed by a person known to the victim. Rathi was seen going to the flat on October 31 with a person wearing a hoodie. The police recovered two liquor bottles and some packets of cigarette from the crime scene.

Rathi’s family lived in a different flat and it remained mostly vacant. It was sometimes used by the deceased.

“The body was found in a decomposed state and it appears the murder was committed on October 31 by a person known to Rathi,” a senior police officer said.

The police have identified the suspect and efforts are on to arrest him. The murder seems to have happened during a robbery as a few items, including jewellery, are missing from the flat, he added.

Jyoti Rathi, daughter of the deceased and an officer in National Security Guard (NSG), said: “My father used to visit the vacant flat frequently. When my father did not return home after the weekend, my mother called his colleagues. We assumed that he might have gone to Haridwar with his friends”.

“When my brother went to the flat and opened the lock, he saw his mobile phone lying there. When my brother checked the bathroom, he saw his father’s body lying in a pool of blood,” she said.

Around 3.30 pm on Monday, a PCR call was received from Rathi’s son that his father had been killed, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) Rajeev Ranjan said in a statement. When they reached the crime scene, the police team found Rathi lying dead in the bathroom in a pool of blood.

The officer said crime and forensic science laboratory (FSL) teams were called to the spot for inspection and evidence collection. Preliminary investigation revealed that he had not returned home for the past two days and was not responding to calls. His son later went to the flat, which was found locked, he added.

Using a spare key, his son opened the door and found Rathi lying dead, Ranjan said.