Mumbai:
The former employee of a senior citizen, who was murdered and robbed of gold and cash worth nearly Rs 4.5 lakh at her residence in suburban Malad, has been arrested, police said on Wednesday.
Nirmala Vora, 88, a resident of the Nemani chawl on SV Road, was found dead by her daughter Chetna, who returned home at 10.30 pm on Sunday, police said.
140 grams of gold ornaments and Rs 35,000 cash were also missing from the house where the elderly woman was found with her throat slit, police added.
A murder and robbery case was registered in Malad police station.
Acting on a tip off, the crime branch officials picked up the accused, GirvarSingh Devda, from Udaipur in Rajasthan on Tuesday and brought him to Mumbai on Wednesday.
"The arrested accused Devda, who confessed to the crime. He used to work at Vora's sugarcane juice centre in September this year. The centre is run by Nirmala's daughter Chetna," Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy said.
Devda, who hails from Rajsamand in Rajasthan and studied up to SSC, had come to Mumbai last year as his brother Manoj works in an ice cream parlour in Malad.
Devda also joined Manoj, who knew Chetna as her sugarcane juice centre is located near to the parlour, police said.
In September, Manoj had left the job at the parlour and shifted to a shop in Mumbai Central area while Devda remained unemployed, police said.
On Manoj's request, Chetna employed Devda at her shop in September and he often used to visit Vora's house in Malad, where he had found the elderly woman remaining alone.
Over some work dispute, Devda left job at the juice centre and he was not paid for 22 days work. He then conspired to kill the elderly woman and loot her when she was alone.
On Sunday, Devda bought a knife, police said, adding, he went to the house of the victim, who allowed him inside as she knew him.
"After gaining access to the house, the accused robbed the woman and killed her before decamping," the officer said.