Done to death

She was 65, retired, single and lived alone in an apartment in the distant Bombay suburb of Gorai in Borivli. She rarely ventured out, nor did she mix much with her neighbors, keeping to herself most of the time. On March 28, 2008 Khorshed J. Dick was found allegedly murdered in her tiny apartment, as per The Times of India (TOI) of March 29, 2008. Police said her house was under repairs and the last person to have seen her was a 35-year-old painter, who has since been missing, reported TOI. "Khorshed was stabbed at least five times but none of the neighbors heard any screams, despite flats being very close to each other,” stated an investigating officer. "The motive behind the murder is not clear. Not a single article in the house had been disturbed. The cupboards and almirah were not opened and nothing seems to have been robbed,” he added.

Dick, a former employee of the Life Insurance Corporation, has a sister and nephew who live in Cusrow Baug, Colaba. Another sister lives in Marine Lines and is physically challenged, wrote TOI. Dick’s body was found by Rajvir Singh, the contractor who had been commissioned to undertake painting and repairs in her flat, reports The Indian Express (IE) of March 29, 2008. With the final touches having been completed on March 27, Singh had asked one of his laborers to collect the painting materials from the apartment. When the man failed to return, Singh called him and was told that he had seen a corpse in the house and, fearing arrest by the police, had fled to his native place in Ahmedabad. The next morning, when the contractor went to the flat and nobody answered the doorbell, he approached the police, reported IE. A team has been dispatched to bring back the missing painter, the police revealed.

"We don’t think robbery could be the motive. She was a very simple lady who never used to wear any jewelry or do any such thing to suggest wealth,” a neighbor informed IE.