A sniffer dog at Namita’s house. (Amit Datta)

Calcutta, Dec. 18: A 77-year-old woman living alone in a three-storey house on Narkeldanga Main Road was strangled this evening and her cash and jewellery stolen by a gang.

Police suspect the robbers broke into Namita Guha’s north Calcutta house between 1pm and 6pm when most neighbours were indoors watching the East Bengal-Mohun Bagan match on one of the colder evenings this winter.

Namita was a familiar face in the middle-class para as she had stayed in her ancestral home for several years now.

Her only daughter Suvasree Ghosh alerted neighbours after she came calling around 6pm, like every evening, but Namita did not open the main gate.

Suvasree, a housewife in her mid-thirties living on Amherst Street, had come with husband Pranab. She waited for many minutes before calling the neighbours, who scaled the boundary wall to find Namita was on the ground floor and the door open.

“We saw her on a chair in a sitting position. There was some blood on her face. The two cupboards were open,” said neighbour Samiran Pal.

The injury marks indicated Namita was strangled.

Jawed Shamim, detective department chief, said: “This seems to be a murder for gain. She was an old lady staying alone for many years so somebody thought of targeting her.”

He said: “Preliminary investigations revealed that the miscreants could not take away much. They escaped with some cash and jewellery.”

Phoolbagan police said the door of the house was locked from inside so the gang must have scaled the wall. Namita was last seen at 12.30pm when her food was delivered, like everyday. She changed domestic helps frequently.

“The robbers seemed to know the lady stayed alone and her valuables were in the almirah. Else, no one would break into a house in the evening,” said a police officer. “The hand of locals can’t be ruled out.”