Elderly bachelor murdered

JAKARTA (JP): An elderly bachelor was found murdered in his house in East Jakarta early Thursday, city police spokesman Lt. Col. Zainuri Lubis said.

The victim was identified as 65-year-old Sadeli Sastra Sanjaya, a resident of Bea Cukai housing complex in Pisangan Lama subdistrict.

Lubis said the victim's hands and feet were bound and his neck had a wound.

Sadeli's body was discovered by his servant Ujang Jamaludin at 4 a.m., who said he saw the last guest of his employer, Lubis said.

"The guest's name was Rudi," Lubis said, adding that Rudi, a close friend of Sadeli, came to the house on the previous day at around 3 p.m. and was out with the victim until before midnight, Lubis quoted Ujang as saying.

When the two returned, Ujang was asleep in his room, far from the living room where Sadeli was later found dead, Lubis said.

The motive behind the murder was still unclear, he said.

A Pioneer video compact disc (VCD) player was later reported missing from the victim's living room.

Sadeli's body was taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital for a postmortem examination.

A relative, Anik Mariana, who claimed her uncle's body, said Sadeli had an adopted son who lived in Sukabumi.

"Both (Sadeli and his son) were not getting along well," Anik said.

She declined to comment further on the relationship, only saying police should question the victim's adopted son. (emf)