By IANS
New Delhi : A 20-year-old budding airhostess was stabbed several times and then bludgeoned to death for resisting a robbery attempt by a long-term employee of her father in their northwest Delhi home early Thursday.
Surabhi Kapoor was fast asleep in the first floor of her Rajdhani Enclave house in the Saraswati Vihar neighbourhood at around 3.45 a.m. when the employee, Pawan, 32, scaled the walls of the house with a ladder and barged into her room.
Pawan, who was working as an operator at the Kapoor’s cable TV service for the past 12 years, was removing valuables from the room when Surabhi heard a noise and woke up, the police said.
“When the victim tried to protest, Pawan first stabbed her with a knife and then bludgeoned her to death with a hammer,” a senior police official said.
“The family rushed to her room upon hearing her screams. But the accused in a bid to escape also attacked them. He was overpowered after a brief struggle,” the official said.
Pawan was handed over to the police, and the weapons seized. A team of forensic experts was collecting evidence from the spot.
The family rushed Surabhi to the nearby Maharaja Agrasen Hospital, where doctors declared her dead. She had bled heavily from her head and lower chest. The body has been sent to a government hospital for a post mortem examination.
A senior police official said: “The accused in his interrogation revealed that he had only entered the house with the sole purpose of robbery as he was aware that the girl’s father had received some cash through bill collections.
“Pawan disclosed that he had alone hatched the conspiracy but his plans went awry when Surabhi woke up. Pawan said he had to eliminate her to conceal his identity, but the victim’s loud screams alerted her family members,” the official added.
Dinesh Kapoor, father of the victim, said: “My poor daughter was training to become an air hostess, which had always been her dream. I would never have imagined in my worst nightmare that Pawan would kill her.”
Dinesh, who lives with his two younger brothers Rakesh and Aneesh, provides cable TV services in the neighbourhood.
“Pawan has been working for us for the past 12 years and was like a family member. He had won our trust, but we are all too shocked with his act. If he was in need of money he could have asked us,” Rakesh said.