Bhubaneswar: An elderly widow was murdered, and cash and jewellery were stolen from her residence near Pahala Market under Balianta police station limits late Wednesday night.
The widow, Manorama Panda, 60, was staying alone at her new residence in Banguary Sahabad village after the death of her husband Parikhsit Panda eight months ago. Recently a contractor from Midnapur area of West Bengal and his wife were staying along with Manorama in her house. The contractor had been supervising construction at the house. However, the couple went to their village in Mednipur to celebrate Eid. On Thursday morning when her son-in-law came to her residence with lunch he found her lying near her bed. He broke the small gate on the rear of the house and found Rs 70,000 and jewellery valued at over Rs 1 lakh missing from the locker. The marks on her throat indicated the possibility that the woman was strangled by the robbers.