By IANS,
Pune : Personal enmity could be behind the murder of senior cardiologist Vijay Ghaisas here, the police surmised Tuesday in the absence of any definite clues.
The 68-year physician was brutally murdered by three unknown assailants when he was alone at his residence on Prabhat Road in Erandavane Monday. His wife, who is in the United States visiting her son and daughter, is expected to return here Wednesday, police said.
Ghaisas’ maidservant, who was the first to detect the crime when one of the assailants opened the door for her, is not proving to be of much help in the investigations, Deccan police station assistant inspector M.K. Kulkarni told IANS.
The assailant gagged the maidservant, Vithabai Gotal, by pressing his hand on her mouth to allow his accomplices to flee and then ran out after pushing her away, police quoted her as saying.
“She could hardly describe the assailants’ appearance apart from saying that they could be in the age group of 20-25,” Kulkarni said, adding that there are discrepancies in her statements.
“Theft as a motive is ruled out, at least for now, as no money or valuables have been found stolen from the house. On the contrary, bloodied currency notes worth about Rs.14,000 were found on Ghaisas’ person,” the official said.
The motive could be to eliminate the cardiologist, who had over 40 stab wounds on the frontal side of his body, apparently inflicted by two people while the third person had held the victim back by pulling a rope around his neck from behind him, Kulkarni said.
A delegation of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) led by Pune chapter president Satish Desai called on city police chief Jayant Umranikar Wednesday and expressed concern over the lack of security in the city.