Mumbai: A year on, cops finally nab duo who killed senior citizen

Deceased Gulabi Shetty owned property worth crores and used to get rent of Rs 2 lakh a month from the restaurant below her house

Almost a year after a 75-year-old woman was tied up and strangled to death at her Andheri residence, D N Nagar police on Sunday arrested two people, who will be produced in court on Monday.

Police said Rashedul Johad Sheikh, 21, and Noorali Abdul Sattar, 23, have a record of housebreaking. Both accused are residents of Bandra West. The deceased, Gulabi Shetty, lived in a one room-kitchen flat above Chaitanya restaurant at Andheri West.

Officers said they managed to identify and arrest the accused after examining footage from over 250 CCTV cameras between Andheri and Bandra. "We suspect they entered Shetty's house with the intention of robbery, tied up her hands and fled with gold and cash," police sources said.

In one CCTV camera footage, police saw two men entering Shetty's house, and leaving sometime later with a big bag, said sources. "The accused hid their faces on noticing the CCTV camera outside Versova police station, which is opposite Shetty's house. We checked more CCTV cameras and traced them till Infinity Mall, and then saw them entering a small lane in Bandra," they added.

They were untraceable from there and did not didn't return to their home for a year. When they finally did, we nabbed them, sources said. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 9, Abhishek Trimukhe told mid-day, "Further investigation is underway."

Shetty's daughter Manorama told mid-day, "Now, we need justice. They should get maximum punishment."

Shetty was alone at her home when she was murdered. Manorama said police had initially detained her son, as her mother had property worth crores. Shetty received R2 lakh monthly as rent from Chaitanya restaurant, and the property on which it was built was worth about R20 crore, police said.