A well-known dermatologist was arrested on Thursday for bludgeoning and stabbing to death his 58-year-old domestic help at his Mount Kailash home in south-east Delhi, the police said.

The 56-year-old doctor, identified as Manish Gupta, was found sitting beside Mina Halder’s body when the police reached Mount Kailash Apartments, an upscale residential enclave in the East of Kailash area, after a neighbour spotted the victim lying in a pool of blood and raised alarm.

Police said they received a PCR call at 11.36 a.m. reporting the murder of a woman. “The caller said the woman was murdered on the terrace of the building and was lying in a pool of blood,” a police officer said.

The accused has confessed to attacking the victim with a bat and later stabbing her with a knife. He was taken into custody and a crime team was called to examine the scene, the police said, adding that they recovered the cricket bat and knife from the living room.

Vastly experienced

According to his website, Mr. Gupta is associated with the National Heart Institute and runs two clinics in East of Kailash and Karol Bagh. He completed his medical residency from AIIMS, Delhi, in 2001 and has more than two decades of experience in dermatology.

According to his neighbours, they have never seen him behave aggressively.

Mina, originally from Kolkata, had worked at the doctor’s home for 16 years. “On Thursday, she left home around 8 a.m. as usual. She first worked at the house downstairs and then went to Dr. Gupta’s home around 9 a.m. He and his son were there. The next thing we heard was that a neighbour had found her body,” said her brother, Shubho Haldar.

‘Complete shock’

Residents said a woman living in the opposite building noticed Mina lying motionless on the floor in a pool of blood. Mina lived nearby with her son and daughter-in-law.

“There had never been any problem with the family. In 16 years, she never complained about them. This has come as a complete shock,” said her son, Robin Haldar.

The police have registered a case of murder on a complaint filed by a neighbour. As per the FIR, the neighbour’s wife saw a man stabbing a woman on Mr. Gupta’s terrace. When she went to his house, Mr. Gupta opened the door and said he has murdered her because “she would have spoiled” his home.

The motive behind the murder is yet to be ascertained, the police said. As officers removed the body for post-mortem, relatives and domestic workers gathered outside the house and demanded a speedy probe.

The incident comes after a 22-year-old daughter of an Indian Revenue Service official was raped and killed at their home in nearby Kailash Hills on April 23 by their former domestic help.