A senior citizen was murdered and his wife critically injured by the couple’s long-time domestic help in Shreshtha Vihar area of East Delhi. Police suspect that Yashpal Soli, 63, a heart patient, was smothered to death, as there were no external injuries.

Wife, Sudha Soli, 60, was brutally assaulted with a hammer and she received severe head injuries. Currently recuperating in Max Hospital, her condition is stated to be stable.

The police identified the accused as Surjeet, who had worked with the couple around five years ago for two years. He was around 12 years old then, and was later sent to work at the home of Swati, Soli’s daughter, who lives in Gurgaon.

Surjeet returned a week ago to Soli’s house at number 14, Shrestha Vihar.

Piecing together the sequence of events, police said that on Saturday night, Surjeet let in two of his accomplices and helped them hide on the terrace. Sudha Soli, as usual, locked the house and went to bed.

Sometime after midnight, Surjeet unlocked the terrace door. Police suspect that the accused first smothered Soli and then tied him up. They hit Sudha on her head with a hammer and knocked her unconscious. Thinking they had killed the couple, they consumed alcohol and snacks inside the house.

In the morning, they took away some articles before fleeing in Yashpal Soli’s silver Fiat Palio (DL 3C C3298).

The couple’s daughter, Nishtha, who lives in Mumbai, found that her parents were not answering calls. Alarmed, she asked her sister in Gurgaon to check if everything was all right.

The police said that Swati called up Soli’s neighbours, who rang his doorbell several times. Sudha cried out in a faint voice. They could not break open the door, and after a while, Sudha who was bleeding, opened the door. Police arrived a few minutes later and found Soli’s body in his office.

The police found bottles of alcohol and glasses strewn around the house, along with packets of Kellogg’s cornflakes.

“The couple had asked Surjeet to get himself verified with the police on Saturday. As he knew the house inside out, it was probably Surjeet who had planned the robbery and killed the victim out of the fear of being caught. He might even have laced the couple’s dinner with poison,” said Dharmendra Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi range).

The crime has shocked the neighbourhood with residents questioning the colony’s safety arrangements.

The security guards manning the gate, who let the assailants slip away in Soli’s car, have also come under fire.

An elderly neighbour, who lives in the same lane, said: “The guards are usually drunk at night. After 8 pm, you cannot expect anything from them.”