On Monday, 12 June, officers at the Mico Layout Police Station in Bengaluru would not have expected to start their week on a gory note. A 39-year-old woman, Sonali Sen, a physiotherapist from Assam, walked into the police station at 1 pm, confessing that she had killed her mother a few hours ago and packed her body in a trolley suitcase. Sen had lugged the trolley to the police station. Inside the suitcase, a framed picture of her long-dead father and her mother too were found.
Stress Led to Murder?
According to the police, Sen claimed that she forcefully gave her mother 30 Blood Pressure (BP) pills. By 11.30 am, Biva Pal had suffered a paralytic stroke and began writhing in agony. The Sen then strangulated her, stuffed her body in a trolley suitcase, booked an autorickshaw, travelled to the nearby police station and admitted her crime.
Sen reportedly told the police that she stranglulated and smothered her 71-year-old mother to death using a dupatta.
Police say that Sen had been under severe stress as she has been the sole caretaker of her family, which includes her engineer husband, autistic child, mother-in-law, and mother. Pal had been living with her only daughter at NSR Green Apartment in Kodichikkanahalli for around five years, ever since her husband passed away.
The probe also revealed that the regular altercation between the mother and the daughter turned violent on 12 June, after the former asked her daughter to kill her in a fit of anger. Police have registered a suo moto case of murder against Sen and sent Pal’s body for postmortem.