A 43-year-old assistant professor at a prominent Delhi University (DU) college was found murdered in her flat in east Delhi’s Vasundhara Enclave on Thursday afternoon, police said.
The woman had a severe head injury, both her wrists were slit, and she had bruises on her face and body, appearing to suggest a scuffle, according to investigators familiar with the probe details. Officials added that there were no signs of forced entry, suggesting the killer was likely known to her.
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Police said the woman lived alone in the flat. She separated from her Bengaluru-based husband and the two were undergoing divorce proceedings for the past four years, police added.
Officials said the incident was reported by her 49-year-old sister, who arrived at the house after the victim did not respond to repeated phone calls.
Deputy commissioner of police (east) Rajiv Kumar told HT that around 2:35 pm, the New Ashok Nagar police station received a call the sister reporting the murder. “The complainant said that her sister had not been responding to phone calls since the morning. Suspecting something untoward, she arrived at her sister’s flat and found it locked from the outside. She broke open the lock and found her sister dead on the floor,” he said.
Sister found the body
Deputy commissioner of police (east) Rajiv Kumar told HT that around 2:35 pm, the New Ashok Nagar police station received a call the sister reporting the murder. “The complainant said that her sister had not been responding to phone calls since the morning. Suspecting something untoward, she arrived at her sister’s flat and found it locked from the outside. She broke open the lock and found her sister dead on the floor,” he said.
Sister found the body
A senior police officer said the elder sister lives with her family in Mayur Vihar and was the first to reach the scene. When she found the door locked, she informed the locals, who then alerted the society’s residents welfare association (RWA), the officer added. The lock was broken in the presence of RWA members.
A senior police officer said the elder sister lives with her family in Mayur Vihar and was the first to reach the scene. When she found the door locked, she informed the locals, who then alerted the society’s residents welfare association (RWA), the officer added. The lock was broken in the presence of RWA members.
Kumar said crime and forensics teams inspected the scene and collected samples. The body was shifted to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital mortuary for autopsy. “We have registered a case of murder under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and multiple teams have been formed to identify and apprehend the offender at the earliest,” he told HT.
Senior police officers said before being appointed a permanent assistant professor at her current college located in Raja Garden in 2023, the woman worked as an ad hoc professor at another DU college. Her family told police that before the murder, she had sent medicines to her mother.
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What DU said
A professor from the victim’s college said a promotion interview had been scheduled for her on Thursday, but she did not turn up. Later, colleagues learned she had passed away.
“We were told that the principal’s personal assistant had tried to contact her, but no one from the college had been able to reach her since around 4pm on Wednesday. On Thursday afternoon, we received the news that she had passed away,” the professor said.
“She was a reserved person. She worked as a guest lecturer for many years before being appointed as an assistant professor a few years ago. We had heard that she was involved in a matrimonial legal dispute, but she generally kept personal matters to herself,” the professor added.
The principal of the college where she worked said the incident is deeply distressing. “I am deeply shocked. She joined our institution only a few years ago and was a reserved yet highly dedicated professional. This is a deeply distressing loss for our college community.”
Karn Pratap Singh has been writing on crime, policing, and issues of safety in Delhi for almost a decade. He covers high-intensity spot news, including terror strikes, serial blasts and security threats in the national capital.
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