Retired IAF officer found murdered in Bengaluru home

A retired Indian Air Force officer was found bound and strangled in his house on the city's outskirts, police said Monday.

He was identified as Air Commodore Parvez Khokhar (retd.), 70.

"We have registered a case of murder and sent Khokhar's body to a hospital for autopsy on a complaint by his wife (Pramila)," Bangalore (Rural) Superintendent of Police Ramesh Bhanot told IANS here.

Khokhar, who originally hails from Punjab, served in the air force for 35 years.

An IAF spokesman said he was one of the test pilots for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas, being built by the state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) here.

In her complaint, Pramila said that after supper late Sunday, Khokhar went to sleep in his bedroom while she went to sleep in another room in the ground floor house, located in 'Smile Green estate', a gated community with security guards.

"Though the old couple had been living together in the same house, they slept in separate rooms as it was normal for them. When Pramila woke up in the morning and found her bedroom door latched from outside, she tried calling her husband but did not get a response. Her screams for help brought neighbours to rescue her through the back door, which remained open while the front door of the house was locked," Bhanot said.

According to preliminary investigation, the alleged murder would have take place between Sunday midnight and the early hours of Monday.

"As valuables in the house were not missing, we are suspecting some motive other than robbery behind the murder as Khokhar's hands and legs were found tied with ropes and his body covered under a blanket," Bhanot said.

As the couple's two married daughters live in New Delhi, Pramila requested police to wait for their arrival here Tuesday before conducting autopsy, as the hospital will not keep the body in its morgue after post-mortem.

"We are interrogating the security guards who were on duty since Sunday, neighbours and Khokhar's friends and relatives for information and clues to trace the killers," Bhanot added.