The woman’s husband had left for work on April 24, police said. (File)The wife of a former IAF wing commander was found dead at her house in Dwarka on Friday morning. Initial finding has revealed that the entry to the house was “friendly”, police said, adding that the autopsy report suggests it was an unnatural death due to smothering.
Police said the woman, 52-year-old Meenu Jain, lived with her husband Vinod Jain, a retired Indian Air Force wing commander, who currently works as a commercial pilot with a leading airline. The couple have a son and a daughter. While the former works in an MNC in Noida and visits his parents on weekends, the daughter is a doctor in Goa. The woman’s husband had left for work on April 24, police said.
According to sources familiar with the probe, so far the needle of suspicion is on a man who went to the victim’s home on Thursday afternoon and spent a considerable amount of time there. Sources said CCTV footage from the colony’s entrance and the security guard’s statement pointed probe officers in the direction of this man.
“The incident came to light on Friday morning after the woman’s father contacted police. Around 9.45 pm Thursday, the woman’s father called her and she told him she was not feeling well. He wanted to visit her but she refused. On Friday morning, he called again but she didn’t answer the phone. When her father and brother went to her place, they found the door locked from the outside,” a senior officer said.
Police said they entered the house from the neighbour’s balcony and found Jain lying on the floor inside her bedroom, with a pillow nearby. “They called police and rushed the woman to a nearby hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival. Two mobile phones, some cash and jewellery were found missing from the house, following which a case under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 392 (robbery) was registered at Dwarka (south) police station,” said DCP (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse.
A forensic team was called and they found blood on one of the pillows. Police also found that the house was not ransacked, but some cash and jewellery was missing. “It was found that the accused took jewellery from the almirah, and put all the things back in the same place,” an officer said.
The investigation has also revealed that police verification of the domestic help had not been conducted, and on Thursday evening, a man had come to the woman’s home to service the air conditioner. He left around 8 pm, police said.
“Police are scanning the entrance register and call detail records. She got a call from an unknown person and he was called for questioning, but he told police he had called her by mistake,” an officer said.
