An 81-year-old retired superintendent engineer (SE), Jagdish Bansal, was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his house in Jathlana village of Yamunanagar district on Friday, police said.
Bansal, who retired from the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited, had been living alone since his wife’s death several years ago, while his son stays with his family in Zirakpur town of Mohali district.
The incident came to light in the morning when his house help, Ruksana, arrived for work but received no response at the gate.
After she alerted neighbours, one of them, Vishal, scaled the wall to open the gate. Upon entering, the house help and neighbours saw the household items had been scattered around and informed the police after finding Bansal unresponsive.
Investigating officer sub-inspector Amit Kumar said that a Dial 112 team arrived at the spot, entered the room, and found Bansal dead with a head injury.
While his belongings were left ransacked, police are currently probing what items were stolen and how the perpetrators managed to gain entry into the house.
Though neighbours and witnesses said that Bansal did not keep valuable items in the house that would typically attract robbers, his daughter-in-law, Archana, said since the death of her mother-in-law, Bansal chose to live alone. “He would come to us but leave for Yamunanagar within a few days. We wanted him to stay with us in Zirakpur, but he was not keen,” she told the media and added that he preferred not to have them visit frequently either.
A case was registered at the Jathlana police station.
