FINGER AT LOOT, POLICE TO ASCERTAIN MOTIVE

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 15: A septuagenarian doctor couple were today found murdered in their house at Sailashree Vihar, raising concern over the safety of senior citizens in the city.

Though the exact motive of the crime is yet to be ascertained, police suspected that loot might be the reason behind the murder.

The bodies of Prafulla Mishra, 72, and Sushama Mishra, 70, were recovered from their residence around 7.30am shortly after they returned home from a nearby temple. The couple had gone to the temple as today was Sushama's birthday.

The matter came to light after the couple's middle son, Subhadarshi Mishra, 47, who owns a software firm at Infocity, called up his mother to wish her on her birthday. "When she did not take the call, Subhadarshi rang up his younger brother, Satyadarshi Mishra, 41, who works as a director at a technical institute in Cuttack. Later, Satyadarshi went to their Sailashree Vihar residence and found his parents' bodies lying on the ground floor of the two-storey building," said a police official.

The couple were living in the building while Subhadarshi was staying in an apartment at Patia. Their eldest son, Priyadarshi Mishra, 51, works in a bank in Singapore. The police suspected that Prafulla was strangulated to death while Sushama was hit on her head with a blunt object.

Sources said Prafulla, an eye specialist, had retired as an additional secretary in the state health department in 2001, while Sushama, a pathologist, had retired from the state health directorate. They had been living in the house for more than a decade. Earlier, though Subhadarshi used to stay in the house with his wife, the police said he had shifted to his Patia apartment a few months ago.

The police found the almirah in the house ransacked. "We found articles in the house scattered. It appeared as if the criminals were searching for valuables such as jewellery and cash. However, the Mishras' family members told us that there were not many valuables kept in the house," said police commissioner R.P. Sharma.

The police also said three maids used to work in the house. "While one maid had been on leave, another came to the house this morning. We are interrogating her, apart from trying to trace the third maid. However, the exact motive of the murder still remains unclear," said deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi.

A pall of gloom descended over the area after the news of murder spread. "We are deeply shocked. The couple were nice and friendly with everyone in the locality. As senior citizens we are feeling insecure after the incident," said Ashok Tripathy, a neighbour known to the couple for more than a decade.

The incident has once again exposed the insecurity of senior citizens living alone in the city. "The police should convene a meeting of senior citizens as we are become more vulnerable to such crimes. The cops should frequently visit the senior citizens' houses," said Girish Jena, a senior citizen.

The Senior Citizen Security Cell of police is functioning at 10 police stations in the city - Chandrasekharpur, Nayapalli, Capital, Saheed Nagar, Kharavela Nagar, Khandagiri, Airfield, Badagada, Mancheswar and Lingaraj. The police said that more than 1,600 senior citizens had been registered under these police stations. Sources said around 75,000 senior citizens were currently living in the city.