A 30-year-old man brutally killed his girlfriend after first strangling her with a rope and then smothering her with a pillow, inside a hotel room in Vasai West. When the woman started to struggle for survival, the man picked up a plumbing tool from his bag and bashed her head, above the left ear leading to heavy blood loss. The reason for the murder is unknown as the accused is absconding.

The woman’s partially clothed body was found on the bed in the hotel room. The police have recovered a blood stained bed sheet from the room. When the police entered the crime scene on Monday afternoon, the television volume was very high. “The killer may have increased the volume to drown out the sounds of the murder,” said an officer privy to the investigation.