Uzbek Woman Killed, Robbed In Bengaluru Hotel Room; Two Arrested

A woman tourist from Uzbekistan was found dead in a hotel room in Bengaluru on March 13. Zarina Utkirovna was allegedly murdered by two housekeeping staff at Jagadish Hotels on Sankey Road, with the motive of robbery. 22-year-old Amrit Sona and 26-year-old Robert from Assam have been arrested by the Bengaluru Police. The cops recovered ₹20,000 in cash and a stolen phone from the accused duo. They had allegedly planned on fleeing the city that night. 

The incident came to light when Utkirovna's travel agent Rahul alerted the hotel staff that she was not receiving any calls. The staff then went to check on her in the room, where she was found dead on the floor with injuries on her face and bleeding from the nose. Her phone was also missing from the room.

Uzbek Woman Murdered In Bengaluru

Zarina Utkirovna was in India on a tourist Visa and had flown in from Delhi on March 5 and was staying at Bengaluru's Jagadish Hotels on Sankey Road. Reportedly, her travel agent Rahul had booked the hotel room for her till March 16. It was he who alerted the hotel staff when Utkirovna was not responding to calls on March 13.

When the staff went to check on the Uzbek tourist, she was found dead in her hotel room with multiple injuries on her face. Her phone was also missing from the scene. Following the police investigation, two accused, Amrit Sona and Robert, who worked as housekeepers at the hotel, were arrested. The police are also investigating any possible sexual assault angle.

The two accused were allegedly nabbed in the nick of time. "When we visited the hotel and shifted the body, we found that Amrit and Robert were missing and their mobile phones switched off. Still, working on their last tower location and scanning CCTV footage of the area they were last seen, we nabbed them from their hideout. They had planned to leave the city in a few hours,” an investigating officer told the Times of India. 

The police said that Amrit and Robert intended to kill her for the money. "In addition to room rent, Zarina would pay for the food and beverages too. Amrit had seen Zarina open her bag filled with cash while handing him over the money and told Robert about it. On March 13 night, they knocked on her door in the pretext of attending some repair work. After entering, they smothered her using the pillow,” an officer said.