The servants, employed by Ramchandani barely two days before the murder, have been missing since Friday evening.

Police have learnt that both the suspects were natives of Bihar who were introduced to the deceased by an acquaintance. While police are keeping a watch at the railway stations and inter-state bus terminals, a squad has been despatched to Bihar as well. Prima facie evidence suggests robbery could be the motive behind the murder. Though the exact loss is yet to be ascertained, police suspect valuables worth more than Rs 10,000 are missing from the Ramchandani home.

Since her husband's death 11 years ago, Kishan Ramchandani was staying alone in her 3,000 sq ft apartment No 78 on the seventh floor of JalDarshan, Napean Sea Road. Ramchandani's 60-year-old daughter Roshan Sujan, who stays with her husband at Colaba, kept in constant touch with her over the phone.

At around 9 pm on Friday, Sujan had called her mother and spoken to her. Ramchandani had then told her daughter that the servant was about to leave in ten minutes. When the daughter again called in the morning, however, the phone kept ringing and nobody answered it.

Disturbed, Sujan sent her husband to inquire about her mother's well-being. At around 12.30 pm, when he opened the door of the Ramchandani home with a spare key, he found the 86-year-old lying on the floor in a pool of coagulated blood.

Sujan immediately informed the Malabar Hill police, who registered a case at around 1.30 pm. According to police, the murder must have taken place at around 9.30 pm, soon after the telephonic conversation between the mother and daughter.

There were severe wounds on Ramchandani's back, and she also had injuries on her head, chest and hands. Policehave found an empty Coke bottle which they suspect must have been used in the murder.

Incidentally, this is the second major incident to have rocked the high-rise building in the upmarket area. In September last year, Jet Airways executive director Saroj Datta was stabbed in his flat in the same building. However, he escaped with multiple stab wounds.