Jul 30 (Mumbai Mirror): A woman head constable attached with the Mumbai police's Special Branch-2 was found dead with her throat slit at her residence in the police quarters in Crawford Market just metres away from the police commissionerate on Wednesday evening.
The woman, identified as Smita Deepak Nandiwadekar Patil, 43, was found lying on her stomach in a pool of blood at her residence on the second floor of the Block 2 of the police quarters at 7:30 pm by her husband and nine-year-old son. Deepak Patil, who works as an insurance agent, had gone to fetch his son from a Navy Nagar school.
The quarters, which has four blocks, houses around 150 families police personnel ranging from police constables to assistant sub-inspectors. Senior police officials visited the crime scene immediately after the incident was reported to monitor the situation. Sources said she was posted with SB-2 two years ago and worked in the verfication department.
"The woman's husband drops their son to his school in Navy Nagar and picks him up too everyday," said a source from Azad Maidan police station, which is investigating the death. "According to Patil, when they returned home today, they found the door unlocked. When they pushed it open, they found Smita lying in a pool of blood after which we were informed."
The police had initially suspected it to be a suicide case, but the lack of of any weapon near the body has led them to suspect foul play. They are now questioning Patil.
"If she killed herself by slitting her throat, where is the weapon? We want to know how he returned only at 7.30 pm," said the officer.
"She had not reported to work today," said Dhananjay Kulkarni, deputy commissioner of police (crime) who is also the spokesperson of the Mumbai police. "However, her bag was packed. We are trying to obtain her call data records to check who she last spoke to. We suspect foul play and are investigating the matter."
Neighbours said Smita and Deepak had a love marriage. A neighbour residing on the same floor said that he spoke to Smita around 9.30 am on Wednesday.
"She appeared cheerful and also played with my son. We did not suspect anything amiss. We are also unaware if there were any marital problems. We did not hear the couple fight in the four years that they have been living here," the neighbour, who didn't want to be named, said.
Police sources said that Smita joined the force after the death of her father, who also a cop. Smita lost her mother to kidney failure a few years ago, and recently her unemployed brother committed suicide.