Manju Goyal worked as a domestic help in Mehrauli.When his sister Manju Goyal was looking for a new house in February, Mahesh Jindal got in touch with Satish Pahwa and asked him to rent his vacant room in Mehrauli to her. On Saturday, as he headed to the same house, regret washed over him. Manju, who was accused of stealing, was beaten to death allegedly by Pahwa and his family.
“My sister used to stay in Rewari with her husband Naveen and two children. After his death in 2014, Manju left her children with their grandmother and came to Delhi to work. We told her she could stay at our house and we’d help with expenses. But she refused, so we found her a job and told a family friend to give her a room on rent,” said Mahesh, who owns a catering business in Mehrauli and lives with his wife Pinki and their son Prince.
Manju was saving money to send her daughter to college, said the family. “She was planning to send her to an engineering college in Delhi next year. She sent most of what she earned to Rewari to support her family and would save the rest. We were shocked when the landlord accused her of theft,” said Mahesh.
Kishore Lal (50), Naveen’s uncle, said, “We received a call around 10 pm about the incident. Her children had spoken to their mother just hours ago. Manju told us she would visit in October during Dussehra.”
Prince, Mahesh’s son, said the accused landlord was known to them. “Pahwa is a vegetable wholesale trader and his shop is near our office. He had a vacant room on the third floor of his house and agreed to take Manju as a tenant.”
The accused told police they had left the keys with Manju as they were going out, and allegedly caught her stealing when they returned. Prince, however, claimed: “They told us she stole Rs 2 lakh but we found only Rs 4,000 in her bag, which was given to her by my father.”
