An old picture of Nilima Gangopadhyay

An 86-year-old woman was gagged and bludgeoned to death in her ground-floor flat in Dhakuria on Friday.

Nilima Gangopadhyay’s body was found in a pool of blood on the floor of her bedroom. Her mouth was stuffed with cloth and the back of her head was smashed.

An iron rod was lying nearby. Police suspect that it was used to deliver the fatal blow.

Nilima’s son Gautam, who shared the rented flat with her, was at work at the United Bank of India’s BBD Bag headquarters, said South 24-Parganas police superintendent Praveen Kumar.

The two women who had been working as helps for the family for two years are missing.

The cupboards in the flat had been ransacked. The investigators suspect that theft was the reason behind the murder though they are not sure what has been stolen.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Nilima suffered from acute arthritis and rheumatism and could barely move. Her daughter, a thalassaemia patient, had died a year and a half ago.

“The two helps were known as Shampa and Brihaspati. They had said they lived in the adjacent Panchanantala slum. We want to question them at the earliest. They will probably be arrested,” said an investigator.

A resident of the third floor of the building, Suprabhat Chattopadhyay, noticed around 5.45pm that pedestrians were peeping into the ground-floor flat through a window. He came down and saw through the window that Nilima was lying on the floor of her room. Chattopadhyay informed Jadavpur police station.

The police reached around 6.30pm and broke open the door to enter the flat. The area was cordoned off.

Gautam, a bachelor, returned around 7pm and was taken to the police station. The body was sent for post-mortem.

“It is strange that the assailants killed an elderly woman who could barely move and could not have resisted the intruders,” said an officer.