A 43-year-old assistant professor at a prominent Delhi University college was found murdered in her apartment in east Delhi’s Vasundhara area on Thursday afternoon, police said.
The woman suffered serious head injuries, her wrists were cut, and she had bruises on her face and body, indicating a fight, according to investigators familiar with the details of the investigation. Officials added that there were no signs of forced entry, indicating the killer was likely known to her.
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Police said the woman lives alone in the apartment. The police added that she had separated from her Bengaluru-based husband and the two had been undergoing divorce proceedings for the past four years.
The incident was reported by her 49-year-old sister, who arrived home after the victim did not answer repeated phone calls, officials said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Rajeev Kumar told HT that at around 2:35 pm, New Ashok Nagar police station received a phone call from the sister reporting the murder. He added: “The complainant said that her sister had not answered phone calls since the morning. She suspected something untoward was happening, so she arrived at her sister’s apartment and found it locked from the outside. She broke the lock and found her sister dead on the floor.”
The sister found the body
The elder sister lives with her family in Mayur Vihar and was the first to reach the spot, a senior police officer said. When she found the door locked, she informed local residents, who then informed the Community Residents Welfare Association (RWA), the officer added. The lock was broken in the presence of RWA members.
Kumar said that crime and forensic teams searched the scene and collected samples. The body was taken to the morgue of Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital for autopsy. “We have registered a case of murder under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Act and multiple teams have been formed to identify the culprit and arrest him at the earliest,” he told HT.
Before being appointed as a permanent assistant professor in her current college located in Raja Park in 2023, the woman worked as a dedicated professor in another college of DU, senior police officers said. Her family told police that she had sent medicines to her mother before the murder.
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What did Du say?
A professor from the victim’s college said she was scheduled for a promotion interview on Thursday, but did not attend. Later, her colleagues learned of her death.
“We were told that the principal’s personal assistant had tried to contact her, but no one from the college had been able to reach her since around 4pm on Wednesday. On Thursday afternoon, we received news of her death,” the professor said.
“She was a reserved person. She worked as a guest lecturer for many years before being appointed as an assistant professor a few years ago. We heard that she was involved in a marital legal dispute, but generally kept personal matters to herself,” the professor added.
The director of the college where she worked said that the incident was very sad. “I am deeply shocked. She joined our organization only a few years ago and was an extremely reserved and dedicated professional. This is an extremely painful loss to our college community.”
