19-year-old girl found dead inside her south Delhi house

NEW DELHI: A 19-year-old girl was found dead inside her house in southwest Delhi's Bindapur on Saturday morning.
Hemlata's family told police she had gone to answer the door around 5.30am. When she didn't return, her mother went looking for her and found her lying in a pool of blood near the staircase, police said. The girl was rushed to a private hospital and later to Mata Chanan Devi hospital where she was declared dead.
However, Hemlata's family failed to call the police. "Prima facie, it appears to be a murder case. The girl's family told hospital staff she fell from the stairs. But, her injuries did not match their claims and the doctors called us to investigate the matter," said RA Sanjeev, DCP (southwest).
Police said Hemlata was with her mother and grandmother when the incident occurred. Her brother is in Gujarat on business and is yet to return. Police added that the possibility of honour killing can't be ruled out yet as the crime scene had been tampered with. "Blood had been washed off. When we questioned Hemlata's grandmother, she said she was not aware of the blood's significance and therefore cleaned it," an officer said.
Hemlata, a high school pass out, had been attending driving lessons around 5.30am since the past three days. Police are also trying to ascertain if she might have been killed by a spurned lover.
"We found Hemlata when the driver who was teaching her, Mahesh, raised an alarm. The gate was locked from inside. My sister thought her daughter had fallen from the stairs and that's what we told the hospital staff. Police is questioning us. Police is also checking the CCTV footage to find out if anyone else is involved," said Shyam Gupta, Hemlata's uncle.