RAWALPINDI: A 90-year-old woman was killed after being suffocated by robbers who raided her house in Satellite Town early on Monday.

It was the second house robbery in the same area during a week.

Taj Ansari was offering Fajr prayers when the robbers entered her house.

Khalida Perveen, the daughter of the deceased, told police that she and her mother and younger sister lived in the house and got up early in the morning for prayers. She said as she opened the door of the TV lounge, the robbers forced their entry and asked about a doctor.

When she told them that no doctor lived in the house, the intruders entered her bedroom where her mother was offering prayers and her sister was sitting on a chair.

She said two of the robbers pulled out their pistols and threatened the women to give up cash and valuables while the others started searching cupboards, drawers and suitcases.

The robbers collected Rs50,000, $1,200, Saudi riyals 4,000, gold jewellery and five mobile phones. After collecting the cash and valuables, the robbers came to her mother and suffocated her to death with her dupatta.

“One of the robbers checked my mother’s pulse and after they confirmed that she had died left with the cash and jewellery,” she said in the FIR.

The two sisters, who were also beaten up, were shifted to the Holy Family Hospital. The body of their mother was handed over to her heirs after postmortem.

Ikhlaq Shah, one of the residents of the street, told Dawn that it was the second incident in which a family was robbed within one week. Residents are feeling insecure even inside their houses, he added.

Following the killing of the elderly woman, two police teams have been formed to investigate the incident and trace the culprits.

Besides, the station house officer of New Town was served with a show-cause notice for negligence and given a 72-hour deadline to arrest the culprits.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2019