Bhubaneswar, Sept. 14: More than two-and-half years after the senior citizen security cell of city police came into existence, elderly persons continue to remain vulnerable to criminal attacks here.

The midnight assault on the septuagenarian couple last night at Acharya Vihar has again raised question marks on the security of senior citizens who reside alone within urban limits with their children staying out of the city.

While 72-year-old Jyotsnadevi Panigrahi was strangled to death, her 75-year-old husband Kunja Behari Panigrahi is battling for life in a private hospital.

The police suspect that the attack on the couple was the fallout of a robbery attempt on them.

This incident brings back memories of some such previous murder cases in the city.

The murder of 65-year-old Pushpalata Jena at Baramunda HIG Housing Colony on February 1 last year had sent shockwaves throughout the city. Jena was killed while she was alone at home.

Then the murder of veteran doctor and owner of Panda Nursing Home, Brahmananda Panda, 60, at his residence near Sriya Complex by one of his former employees on July 27, 2010, was an eye-opener for the residents as well as the police.

Though the culprits have been arrested in both the cases, there has hardly been any improvement in the security scenario of the elderly persons.

Mostly such crimes are committed by people known to the victims. In the case of Jena, it was a 25-year-old man who worked in her house. The doctor’s murderer was one of his former employees.

Another incident of threatening an elderly woman at Saheed Nagar at gunpoint to put her signature on some disputed land-related papers in May last year had also attracted a lot of attention.

Sources said that though a senior citizen security cell was working under the city police, it had not yet been able to prove its worth in curbing crimes on the elderly people.

Over a lakh senior citizens reside in Bhubaneswar. Out of that only 307 persons have so far been registered with the city police’s senior citizen security cell.

The police said certain formalities had to be completed to register the names of the elderly people in the senior citizen security cell.

Only senior citizens living alone or as couple without any younger male member in the family are eligible for this.

“We organise various events and interact with the elderly people to know about their problems. We advise them to adhere to certain security measures for their own safety,” said a nodal officer of the senior citizen security cell.