Neighbour, friends arrested for senior citizen murder in Timarpur

Three men were arrested on Wednesday for the robbery and murder of a 62-year-old woman in Timarpur, North Delhi, three days ago.

Rahul Prasad Singh (22) and his two accomplices, Rahul Gautam and Nadeem Khan, were arrested for the murder of Madhu Mehra, who used to stay alone in her second-floor flat since the death of her husband and teenaged son a few years ago. The elderly woman was Singh's neighbour.

Mehra, a science teacher at Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Nehru Vihar, was found dead in her bedroom on October 2 by a relative, Rajender Prasad. Her hands and legs were tied with a piece of cloth.

Police ruled out a break-in as no door or window was damaged, though the rooms were ransacked. This led the investigators to question the neighbours.

Police claimed that Singh, who stays in a flat on the same floor, broke down during questioning and confessed that he murdered the elderly woman. Gautam and Nadeem helped him commit the crime, police said.

"Singh had suffered huge losses in his business and hatched a plot along with his friends to rob Mehra. He said the three of them entered her house on the pretext of giving her prasad. Soon they overpowered her and when she resisted, they gagged and strangled her," a police officer said.

Gautam is a student, while Nadeem is a rickshaw-puller. Both are residents of Ankur Enclave Phase-II in Ghaziabad.

Police also claimed to have recovered a gold chain, 20 savings certificates and Rs 5,500 in cash from the three men.

Police said Rajender Prasad had borrowed Rs 10,000 from Mehra and had returned the money on Monday. The money was also missing from the house.

Mehra was living alone in the flat for the past 14 years. She was registered with the North district's Senior Citizen Cell.

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