Domestic help plotted murder

Indore: The murder of Anju Rathod, which jolted Ujjain, seems to have been the fallout of the recent sacking of the house help Ratna, who plotted the crime along with two acquaintances.
According to the police, the maid Ratna had been working at Rathod's house since past nine years. She was recently thrown out by Anju since she started staying away from work frequently.
Earlier, Ratna had approached Anju seeking monetary help."Anju told Ratna that she did not have any cash and she gave the domestic help a gold ring and asked her to mortgage it for cash. The maid did so, but was unable to return the ring within the stipulated time," said superintendent of police (SP) M S Verma.
Anju pestered Ratna for the ring for a few months and that was when the help introduced Anju to Abhishek Rajput and Rahul Tiwari in the hope that they would loot her. The accused had met Anju several times to polish her jewellery,
On Monday, after conducting a recce, the accused went to Anju's house after her son left for work. They stayed there for about half-an-hour before committing the crime and fleeing. Investigations revealed that the accused had reached the crime scene on foot and also left the same way.They then took a taxi and reached Ramghat. There were no CCTVs in the locality and their movements could not be captured, said the police. During inspection of the crime scene, the forensic expert found two glasses in the kitchen and deduced that the accused were known to the victim. Also, Anju had been preparing tea, signs of which were also found in the kitchen.The Rathods own four dogs including three German Shepherds and one Labrador.
The pets were found locked in a room. The victim's son told cops that they would lock the dogs in a room when they had visitors.
"The accused also sustained injuries on their hands as the victim had put up a fight when she was attacked," said the police. The duo allegedly washed their hands and bloodstained clothes in the sink before leaving the house.
On reaching Ramghat, they took a 'holy dip' in the river to 'wash off their sins'. After that the duo reportedly returned to the crime scene to take stock of the situation. They moved along with the police and tried to trace their line of investigation. However, when they got to know that the police had reached Ratna, they were planning to leave the city when they were nabbed.