In the heart of Bengaluru’s Seshadripuram neighbourhood, a 27-year-old Uzbek woman was discovered dead in a hotel room under suspicious circumstances. Authorities believe she was killed.
When hotel workers discovered Zarina DJeparova unresponsive in her second-floor room on Wednesday night, it was approximately 11:00 p.m. According to the police, the woman hadn’t left the room in a while and hadn’t returned calls, so the staff had to use a master key to get inside.
Shekhar H. Tekkannavar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), told DH that the woman was likely smothered and had no visible wounds.
When she paid the daily room rent during check-in on Wednesday at noon, the hotel staff informed the police that it was the last time they had seen her. A ‘Do not disturb’ sign was later discovered by housekeeping staff on the door.
After some time, a hotel employee who had assisted with her check-in attempted to get in touch with her via phone. He called the hotel when she didn’t answer. Then the staff used the master key to unlock the door. They discovered her, covered in a bedsheet, laying on the ground. When they looked into it more, they saw that she had passed away, and the staff phoned the police.
Police from Seshadripuram, forensic specialists, and a sniffer dog unit arrived on the spot later. After samples, including fingerprints, were taken from the scene, the body was sent for a post-mortem examination.
According to a police inspector from Seshadripuram who is involved in the inquiry, the woman came to Bengaluru on March 5 and made a 10-day reservation for the hotel. She seemed to have been here on a tourist visa. The officer stated, “We are finding out that,” and added that they had located and were looking through her identity documents in the room.
The officer said that no one else had stayed with her and the room seemed unoccupied. Police think the woman was slain when someone broke into the room covertly.
