(Top) Wallace Garden, Usha Chokhani’s apartment block in Mandeville Gardens, and (below) her sons Bharat and Nikhil (in green and blue T-shirts). Pictures by Pabitra Das

A 54-year-old woman who lived alone was found murdered in her Mandeville Gardens apartment on Sunday afternoon, with a pair of scissors piercing her throat and a deep wound on her neck.

A towel, probably used to gag Usha Chokhani, who ran a handicrafts and designing unit at home, was found beside the body.

“The towel belonged to domestic help Kishan, who is missing,” said an investigating officer. Usha had hired Kishan, in his early 20s, 10 days ago.

“He is our prime suspect, though we are also exploring other possibilities,” said Kuldiep Singh, the additional commissioner of police (IV).

Mukesh, an employee of a neighbourhood tea stall, had recommended Kishan, a resident of Bihar’s Banka district, to Usha. “Mukesh has been detained,” said an officer.

The sleuths are yet to find out whether anything has been stolen from the flat. “There was no sign of ransacking and all the almirahs were locked,” the officer said.

A watch, a ring and an earring were found on Usha’s body. “The other earring must have fallen off while Usha was trying to ward off her killer,” the officer added.

Forensic experts have collected samples from the flat. The cops are also questioning the guards of Wallace Garden estate, where Usha lived, and have seized the visitors’ book.

Usha, a divorcee, had been living alone for the past 10 years. Her two sons, Bharat and Nikhil, live with their father Atmaram Chokhani in Ballygunge Place. “Both sons had come to the apartment on hearing about the murder. They were in regular touch with her,” said an officer of Gariahat police station.

Usha’s sister Rekha Bagaria was first to see her lying dead, bathed in blood, on the floor of the drawing room of her third-floor apartment.

“Usha called up Rekha, who lives in Sunny Park, and said she would send some clothes for her Delhi-based daughter Ruchi Sabetia. She asked Rekha to send her driver to collect them,” said Rajesh Subarna, the deputy commissioner of police (south).

The driver came and pressed the doorbell repeatedly, but there was no response.

“After he returned around 2.40pm, I called my sister but she did not answer the phone. Fearing something was amiss, I went over with a duplicate set of keys. I opened the door and found my sister lying on the floor, dead,” Rekha recalled.

“Rekha’s statement proves Usha was murdered between 2pm and 3pm. When we entered the flat, blood was oozing from her wounds,” said Subarna.

A sniffer dog was brought to the apartment from the Lalbazar headquarters. “The dog sniffed the towel and walked towards the northern slope of the Gariahat flyover, where it lost trail. It seems the assassin had boarded a bus or taken some other mode of transport at that point,” said an officer.

A probe revealed that the scissors with which Usha had been stabbed were hers. “She produced hand-made items of decoration and design clothes. There were scissors of various sizes in her flat. The assassin had taken the biggest one to stab Usha,” said an officer.