KILLED AND ROBBED

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 110, 3 February 1931, Page 11

KILLED AND ROBBED

Body Found in Shop

DEAD TWELVE HOURS Saturday Night Crime STRANGE EVENTS FOLLOW Dominion Special Service. t t New Plymouth, February 2. Some time after 11 p.m. on Saturday, Nana Chhiba, aged about 45, a Hindu fruiterer, married, with one child, was killed on his premises and the contents of the till, estimated at about £6O, were stolen. No arrest has yet been made.

Chhiba, commonly known as “David,” was found by the police at 11 o’clock on Sunday night lying in a room near the back door of his premises. A door mat covered his head, which had been struck five times or more with a tomahawk. When the police searched the premises David had been dead for about twelve hours, according to a medical man. No signs of a struggle were detected, and, apart from the till, everything appeared to be in order. David apparently was caught unawares after having disturbed the would-be burglar. Evidence points to the fact that murder was deliberate, a significant fact being that the weapon the police considered had been used had been washed to remove incriminating evidence. David was fully clad and lay on his back in the centre of the room. The wounds, being at the back ofjlthe head, suggest an attack from behind.

Person There After Death.

Evidently some person other than David was on' the premises until shortly before 11 o’clock last night for the police inspected the. doors of the premises up till then at intervals after being informed about 7 p.m. that a crime of some kind was suspected. A constable investigated after 7 p.m. and found nothing amiss externally. Both doors were then locked. After 9 p.m. the same constable, together with the all-night constable, again inspected the premises and everything again appeared to be in order and the lights were burning. At 11 p.m, however, a constable found the back door open and the crime was discovered. The lights still were, burning. : ' Woman Suspicious. Another indication of movement in the shop was furnished by the statement of a woman living nearby who, visiting the premises at 6.45 last night, saw the door ajar and the lights burning. The woman believed a sound she heard was the sizzling of a frying pan. She was acquainted with deceased, and had wished to purchase some.bananas. She called: “David,” but there was no reply. Going closer, the woman glanced up the, passage leading from the back door to another room, and she saw in the gloom a hand protruding from a huddled form covered in blood. Door Shut Again. Although the woman became hysterical she did not then sense a tragedy. It occurred to her to ring David’s legal adviser. The police were informed, but the doors were found to be shut,-' and repeated knocking brought no response. _ The woman' later telephoned that the lights still were burning. Man of Means. David is reputed to have been, a man of financial means. He had been in business in Hawera about fifteen years, and invested in freehold property in the main street, owning the shop in which he retailed fruit. His widow lives in India with one son. He visited his homeland in 1927, and had contemplated making another visit in the near futurh. He has two brothers in New Zealand. Detectives Meiklejohn and Kearney are engaged on the case, and hurried to the scene in the early hours of this morning.

' BROTHERS ON VOYAGE

In Business in Wanganui

Dominion Special Service.

Wanganui, February 2.

Nana Chhiba (“David”) was well known In Wanganui, and was the brother of Bhama and Bhikka “David,” well-known fruiterers of Wanganu, who left on a holiday visit to India last Friday.

There is one Hindu known as “David” •with interests in Wanganui, Hawera, and < Rotorua, who is. well known in Wellington, “David” was held in the highest esteem in the Wellington markets, in which he was a buyer for the last ten or twelve years. Always well dressed, be was rather retiring by nature.