santiniketankolkata a retired schoolteacher from kolkata was murdered in her santiniketan home late friday night when she had gone on her monthly trip to collect rent from tenants it has come as a shock to the thousands of kolkatans who own a house in tagores abode and have rented it out big names like writer sunil ganguly and former police commissioner tushaar talukdar own houses in the simanta palli locality where the murder was committed police are yet to find any motive for the murder initial investigation says that 68yearold renuka sarkar was smothered with a pillowlike object said birbhum sp rishikesh meena the incident has alarmed people in kolkata and santiniketan alike sunil gangopadhyay said a few thefts were reported in the santiniketan area where we own a house suddenly i hear of a murder i am concerned we may need to post a security guard the next time we visit santiniketan talukdar said he had not heard of such an incident before the police resources are mainly concentrated in and around santiniketan our locality is a little on the outskirts it is otherwise a very peaceful area if the murder was due to a personal grudge then it is not of much concern but if outsiders killed her then it is definitely a matter of fear he said renuka sarkar had let out the ground floor of her house to five girls and appointed a caretaker she visited santiniketan almost every month to collect rent her son prabal said caretaker utpal tapadar who stays in the same compound with his wife has told police that he found the main lock broken on saturday morning he went upstairs and found the body his wife said she had spoken to renuka last on friday evening one of the tenants said they did not hear any abnormal sounds we were fast asleep we came to know about the incident in the morning she said the birbhum sp said they had found some clues but the motive was not yet clear dig burdwan range basab talukdar also visited the spot real estate prices in santiniketan are almost as high as kolkata because of the craze among city dwellers to have a house in tagores abode a singleroom flat in santiniketan sells for rs 1215 lakh and the cost of land visvabharati is at least rs 15 lakh per cottah not only the rich and famous even the middleclass make a beeline for santiniketan some of them keep visit only during poush mela or basanta utsav others rent out their properties and hire a caretaker usually a neighbourhood rickshawpuller or handyman large portions of areas like goalpara shyambati bagan para and prantik have turned into congested concrete blocks but lie deserted the vacant houses are a headache for police because they are an invitation to thieves and hoodlums soumitra mitra a well known cultural personality said i built a small house in fuldanag some years ago so did a number of renowned people