Lady IOC officer found murdered
Kolkata   30-Jul-2011

An IndianOil (IOC) officer in her mid-fifties was found murdered in her Haldia quarters last night with her head partially smashed.

Martina Aind, 54, an administrative officer of the IOC-run hospital in Haldia, was found dead by police in her bedroom with the lights and the AC on. The body, which was lying on the bed, had been covered with a blanket. Two half-finished cups of tea and a plate of biscuits, of which two were half-eaten, were found on a bedside table.

The only door of the first-floor flat where Martina used to live alone, was found locked from outside. The police said the lock was a new one and might have been brought by the assailant. Martina’s daughter Sumana is a first-year student of a north Calcutta college and stays as a paying guest in the city. The victim’s husband Sushil is a State Bank of India officer posted in Bihar.

“A medical examination of the body has revealed that she was murdered on Tuesday night,” an officer of Haldia police station said. “It appears that the killer was known to Martina and they had spent considerable time in the apartment before the murder,” he added. The officer said the IOC staff quarters were well-protected.

The police are yet to ascertain the motive behind the murder. “We are probing if the murder was the fallout of a personal or professional rivalry,” the officer said.

According to IOC records, Martina had joined the Haldia hospital a year ago and was supposed to be transferred soon. She had left office around 5pm on Tuesday. Sumana said she had spoken to her mother on her cellphone that evening and Martina had “sounded absolutely normal”.

Martina’s colleagues suspected that something was wrong when she did not come to office after Tuesday. Sumana said her mother’s cellphone was switched off since Wednesday.

Martina’s neighbours said they suspected foul play when they noticed last night that the lights and the AC were on although the flat was locked from outside. They informed IOC officials who, in turn, called the police.

“The police broke open the door and found Martina’s blood-soaked body on the bed. We informed her husband and daughter,” an IOC official said.

Amitabha Maity, the sub-divisional police officer of Haldia, said: “Martina was wearing a night dress. It appears that she had welcomed the visitor with tea and biscuits.”

The police have not found any sign of forcible entry into the flat. “The bolts are intact. This has deepened our suspicion that the killer was known to Martina,” Maity said. He, however, said there were signs of struggle on the bed.

“Martina had tried to resist the attack. The nature of the injury suggests that she had been hit on the head with a blunt weapon. The weapon is yet to be traced,” Maity said.

The police have ruled out murder for gain. “The room was not ransacked. The victim’s cellphone is missing. We believe that the call details of the cellphone may provide us vital leads,” an officer said. The police have taken the tea cups and the biscuit plate for fingerprint tests.

IOC officers expressed surprise at the murder on the premises of the staff quarters. “The compound is well-protected. Security guards are posted at the gate round-the-clock. Visitors have to enter their details in the record book before entering,” said Bobby Minz, the manager of the human resource department of the IOC’s Haldia unit.