A middle-aged lady lawyer having frequent visitors was found dead on Wednesday afternoon inside her unlocked apartment in the Budh Marg area.

The victim, Sangita Sinha (45), was a resident of Vaibhav Apartment. The only occupant of a third-floor flat (number 35) in the building was a relative of retired police officer Anil Kumar Singh, who was gunned down by dacoits on a train six years ago.

Parmanand Singh, the caretaker of the building, first got the whiff of a nauseating stench coming out of Sangita’s flat and informed Kotwali police station about it.

“The other residents of the third floor complained about the stench. I first thought the foul smell was emanating from a trash bin outside Sangita Sinha’s flat. But later I found that the stench was coming out of her flat. She did not share a cordial relationship with the other residents and was known for picking up fights. So, instead of knocking on her door, I went straightaway to the Kotwali police station and informed cops about the matter,” Singh told The Telegraph.

A police team with station house officer (SHO) Aman Kumar reached the spot and found the door of Sangita’s flat unlocked. Entering the flat, they spotted the woman’s nude and decomposed body beside a bed in one of the two rooms. There were several bloodstains on her body and on the floor. Police sources pointed out that the flat was pitch dark.

Patna City superintendent of police Kim, who reached the spot soon after the body was spotted, said: “Prima facie, it looks to be a case of murder. The post-mortem report will make things clearer. The investigations have started.”

Sources said Sangita was a divorcee. Her former husband Rajiv Pandey, a well-known criminal lawyer of the city, passed away a few years back.

The woman is survived by two sons. One of them is an advocate at Patna High Court. The other works in a private firm in Mumbai.

Manju Singh, the wife of the slain police officer and a relative of Sangita, said the deceased was not in contact with her family and relatives.

“The flat belongs to my mother, who happens to be Sangita’s grandmother. Sangita started off as a good lawyer and was married off to a respectable family. But later they divorced and she got into some bad company. After this, she stopped contacts with all her relatives. She refused to leave the flat too. It is a shocking incident for sure,” Manju said.

A police officer said: “The fact that the door of Sangita’s flat was not locked says several things. Someone, whom the lady knew, must have casually entered the flat, killed her and fled quietly.”

The police suspect that Sangita was into some kind of a dubious activity. The entry register of the apartment revealed that several people, including young men, visited her frequently.

“On June 18, she had the last visitor. He identified himself in the register as Rahul Raj. He came around 1.40pm. The address written in the register shows Boring Road. The woman was not seen thereafter,” the officer said.

On June 13, Sangita had three visitors, including a woman by the name of Madhuri Sinha from Gardanibagh and two young men who had identified themselves in the register as Ram Manohar and Raju. A visitor by the name of Sunita Kumari went to her flat on June 15. The next day, three persons, including a woman and two men, went to her flat. On June 17, several persons, including Madhuri, one Sanjana and two other men identified as Raghuvendar and Rajesh, went to her flat.