Six suspects who were held in connection with the murder of Nalini “Nalo” Bhoge, 43, of Line Path, Skeldon around 10 am on Monday have been released from police custody.
And in a new twist, it has been discovered that a quantity of gold jewellery that was in a drawer as well as $60,000 were stolen. Relatives said too that the woman wore a lot of “gold bangles” but when her body was found only a ring was on her finger and the bangles were gone.
American passports belonging to her three daughters, Bharti, 12, Khishana, 10 and eight-year-old Praveena were found in the backyard in a plastic bag after they were apparently “dropped.”
The woman’s battered body was discovered lying on the floor of a bedroom by her husband, Budh Narayan Bhoge, 52, an American citizen, one of the suspects held shortly after.
He had told this newspaper that he left home to drop Khishana and Praveena to school and then went to the bank and the gas station.
He also met two of his colleagues at the gas station and they chatted and then he gave one of them a lift to the store and dropped the other one home.
He related that although he did not see his wife when he got home he did not call out to her as he felt she was doing her usual chores.
A few minutes later, he said, he called for her but got no response and decided to search the house. It was then that he made the gruesome discovery.
He said when he saw his wife’s remains on the floor in his eldest daughter’s bedroom he was “devastated.” He said he immediately alerted a man who was passing.
Sources told this newspaper that the colleagues and the man were also taken into custody shortly after. A female and two male neighbours were subsequently arrested in connection with the crime and later released.
Relatives had told this newspaper that it seemed as though the attacker “had eyes on she a long time ago.” They were referring to a robbery that occurred at her home over three weeks ago and felt that the killing had some connection to that.
The relatives said that the woman and her family had gone to a fair in the area and returned home to find the place ransacked.
They also discovered that $700,000 as well as a pouch with Bhoge’s “bank card and security card” was missing but the family did not report the robbery to the police.
Yesterday, they said they were sure that the same persons who committed the last robbery were the same persons who murdered Nalini because the house was ransacked in the same manner and at the same points.
