The victim’s driver, employed seven days ago, is absconding, the police said.

Prima facie, police suspect robbery as the motive.

Her husband Naresh Mittal works as a senior executive in a private firm and is in Bhopal on a business trip for the past two days, police officials said. According to them, he had rung up from there around 5.30 pm and, with the phone going unanswered, called up one of the neighbors. The neighbour, a police officer said, found the door to the Mittal residence (C-20, Godhavri Apartments) unlocked, and saw Meera Mittal’s body inside — blood all around it.

“The PCR was informed immediately,” the officer said.

The victim was alone at the time — her son and daughter, in their twenties, were out. The two, in fact, were out since Friday night, the officer said, and the police are still to find out when the incident occurred. The time of the murder will be clear only after the postmortem report comes in.

Neighbours told police that they saw her on Saturday morning with the driver, not identified yet.

“Stab injuries on her neck suggest the use of a sharp-edged weapon,” the officer said. “We suspect it was a knife; no weapon has been recovered yet.”

“A case under Section 304 (murder) has been registered against unknown assailants,” the officer from CR Park Police Station said. “We are looking for the absconding driver.” They are also investigating whether he was verified with the CR Park police.