Mother, two children found strangled in Delhi home

A 28-year-old woman and her minor daughter and son were found strangled in their home here on Monday, police said.

The woman's husband, Mohammad Zafar, who had gone to Jaipur on Sunday, returned home in west Delhi's Khayala area around 5.30 a.m. on Monday and found them dead.

Police said Shabnam, seven-year-old Khusnaseeb and six-year-old Imran were found dead on the second floor of a residential building in Raghuvir Nagar area.

"Prima facie it seems Shabnam was strangled along with her children. A cut mark was also found on Shabnam's throat," Deputy Commissioner of Police Pushpendra Kumar told IANS.

"But we are waiting for the post-mortem report to confirm the exact cause of death," he said.

Police say there was a "friendly entry" into the rented accommodation where Shabnam, her husband Zafar and their five children stayed.

The other three children -- 11-month-old son Ayan and two daughters, five-year-old Sanam and four-year-old Arshi -- were sleeping in the house at the time of the incident.

Investigators are interrogating Zafar along with the family's relatives, friends and neighbours.

Police ruled out the possibility of robbery as a motive because the valuables in the house remained intact and the house was not ransacked.

"As the room's door was ajar and there was no ransacking, it clearly indicates that the motive was to kill the woman. As her two children might have known the killers, they were also eliminated," the official said.

Police said the murder took place sometime late on Sunday night and the killers might have been more than two in number.