Pune:
Two middle-aged twin sisters were found dead in their residence at the plush Ideal Colony in Kothrud on Thursday morning, creating a flutter in the area. The Kothrud police said they did not suspect any foul play and claimed the women had died of suffocation after fumigating their house on Wednesday to get rid of bedbugs. The deceased were identified as 52-year-old Sandhya and Usha Nadkarni.
According to Chadrakant Kandhare, the watchman working in Saraswati Park, the incident came to light in the morning when some neighbours noticed that garbage was not being kept outside the twins' residence. When the neighbours called them, no one answered.
A 22-year-old medical student, Mohinin Ketkar (22), was living with them as a paying guest. She survived as she was not at home, having gone to a friend's place because of the pest-control operation.
According to neighbours, on Wednesday afternoon, some people from a pest-control agency had fumigated Nadkarni's entire house. After they completed their work, Usha and Sandhya went to their cousin Purushottam Balawanikar's house in Wanawadi. At night, they came back to their house and went to bed.
According to Kandhare, the garbage picker came and told a neighbour, Rekha Joshi (61), that there was no response from the Nadkarnis' house. Joshi contacted other residents of the society. Member of the society informed the police and the fire brigade.
The fire brigade personnel broke open the main door and noticed that Nadkarni's house was stinking of strong chemicals. They entered the house wearing masks and found Usha and Sandhya dead in the hall and bedroom, respectively.
Senior Police Inspector Chandrakant Ghodake of the Kothrud police station said: "The paying guest Ketkar survived as she was at her friend's flat in Hadapsar for the last three days." He said that she had moved out temporarily as the pest-control work was to be done in the house.
"We have registered a case of accidental death and we suspect no sabotage in this," he said. According to the watchman, both the sisters were unmarried and there was no other member of their family living with them.