Delhi: Late Union minister P Rangarajan Kumaramangalam’s wife killed in robbery at Vasant Vihar house

NEW DELHI: The upscale colony of Vasant Vihar woke up on Wednesday to the news of the sensational murder on Tuesday night of Kitty Kumaramangalam (70), wife of late Union minister P Rangarajan Kumaramangalam.
She was throttled and smothered to death with a pillow when she resisted a robbery at her residence. Police have arrested two of the three suspects, including a washerman, Raju (24), who had been visiting the house for five years.His alleged accomplice is a driver working with the foreign ministry on contract.

It was the maid who opened the door of the second floor apartment in A-15 block around 8.45-9pm when Raju turned up at the house. She was immediately overpowered by him, dragged to a room, thrashed and then tied up. Meanwhile, his alleged accomplices had entered the house. As Kumaramangalam resisted and tried to raise an alarm, she was strangulated and smothered with a pillow.
How house worker helped catch 2 murder suspects
As she seemed to have fallen unconscious, the three men ransacked the house. Before leaving, they returned to the maid and tried to smother her as well because she would have identified Raju. However, she put up a stiff resistance. They left after threatening her and asking her not to disclose anything to police.

After around two hours, the maid managed to untie herself and raised an alarm. Police were alerted around 11pm and soon a team reached the house. Kumaramangalam and the maid were rushed to the hospital where the former was declared dead on arrival.
The scene of crime was examined by forensics for clues. The cops spotted open briefcases in the house. By then the maid had disclosed the washerman's role. Multiple teams were formed for his arrest and an FIR of murder and robbery was registered. A separate team was assigned to obtain and analyse the footage from CCTV cameras.
Local inquiries revealed that Raju lived in the nearby Bhanwar Singh camp. Police raided the camp and arrested him in the early hours of Wednesday. He allegedly confessed to the crime.
By noon, the cops had arrested the second suspect as well. He was identified as Rakesh (34), a resident of Munirka village, who works on contract with the foreign ministry, said police. Rakesh, a close friend of Raju, is claimed to have told the cops that he was given Rs 60,000 as his share. A hunt is on for the third suspect, Suraj, said police. He is learned to have fled to Jaipur to dispose of the jewellery.
Raju is learned to have chosen Kumaramangalam as a target because she mostly used to live alone. She was not enrolled as a senior citizen. Her daughter, Ruchira, and her son would off and on stay with her.
Kumaramangalam's husband was a minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government during 1998-2000. He was also a junior minister in the PV Narasimha Rao government between 1991 and 1993. He passed away in 2000.