Mumbai: A local leader with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was found murdered in her Nallasopara residence on Tuesday morning.
Rupali Chauhan (38) was heading the local wing of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha and used to stay by herself. The Nallasopara police said they were alerted by some neighbours, who became aware of a foul smell coming from her apartment. When repeated knocking of the door and ringing of the doorbell elicited no response, the police broke the door open and found her body on the floor in a highly decomposed state.
“There were some burn marks and external injuries on the body. We have registered a complaint of murder against unknown persons under the Indian Penal Code,” an officer with Nallasopara police station said.
The officer said there were no signs of forced entry in the house, indicating that the assailant was let into the house willingly. “The accused could be someone known to Chauhan, or might have managed to secure entry by posing as a courier boy or on some other pretext. We are conducting inquiries to find out if any of the residents saw someone suspicious entering or leaving the building over the past couple of days. The level of decomposition indicates that the murder occurred at least two days ago,” the officer said.
The police are also exploring the murder being the result of a robbery gone wrong and are conducting an inventory of Chauhan’s belongings to find out if any valuables are missing.