Smothering of an elderly couple by unidentified persons at their residence in southeast Delhi, which came to light today, took the toll of senior citizens murdered in the national capital to 12 this year.
As many as 46 senior citizens have allegedly been murdered in the past three years in Delhi while the figure for this year stood at 12, reveals records of Delhi Police.
Manohar Lal Madan (85), a retired bank official, and his wife Vimla (79) were killed while they were asleep last night by suspected robbers who entered their room, which was found ransacked after the incident, on the ground floor of their house in East of Kailash.
Other cases of this year include the murder of a 68-year -old woman at her residence in Paharganj in August, the killing of 92-year-old man and his 62-year-old daughter-in-law at their bungalow in East Patel Nagar, and the murder of a 63-year-old man at his Vijay Vihar residence.
All except the last case mentioned above were linked with robbery, said police.
National Crime Records Bureau data reveals that as many as 22 senior citizens were murdered at the Delhi Union Territory in 2014.
Delhi police, however, took exception to allegations that the national capital is one of the most unsafe for senior citizens and said that elderly people here have trust in the police.
"It is because the elderly ones, who are considered vulnerable targets for criminals, have trust on us, more and more of them are enrolling to Delhi Police's security scheme for senior citizens," said Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat.
With 3,164 senior citizens enrolling themselves to the scheme this year, the total figure has gone up to 23,982, witnessing a 13.43 per cent increase from that of the previous year, Bhagat cited from the police records.
The security scheme for senior citizens require beat officials to keep a close eye on elderly people residing in areas under his/her jurisdiction and offering assistance whenever asked for, police said.
The senior citizen security scheme -- which was launched around four years ago -- largely came into focus after an incident reported last year, in which a 81-year-old woman journalist was allegedly murdered and then her body was burnt by a domestic help in south Delhi's Greater Kailash area, police added.
