POLICE are treating as murder the death of a 58-year-old woman who was found partly burnt yesterday.
The woman was found about 20 metres from where she lived with her son and daughter-in-law at Brewster Street in Toorak, Suva.
A post mortem examination showed Prabha Wati died of suffocation due to strangulation.
Police spokesman Atunaisa Sokomuri said a security officer made the discovery in a nearby cassava patch at the street roundabout.
Samuela Minikula, the 61-year-old security officer who was on duty at the Hare Rama Hare Krishna temple on Brewster Street, said noises from the cassava patch woke him from his nap at about 1.30am.
"When I stood up, I saw a carrier, a three-tonne carrier parked outside the garment factory (Yong Hong Garments). It started its engine and then drove off. I only saw one person, the driver," Mr Minikula said.
"I could see light right opposite where I was sitting so I started towards the gate and I was curious because that place is usually dark," he told the Fiji Times.
"When the truck left, I went towards where the light was coming from. About six feet from where I was standing, I saw something was burning in the cassava patch. I checked my watch, it was 2am," he said.
"I went closer and couldn't make out what it was so I went around it and that was when I saw the lady's legs. I knew instantly it was an Indian woman's legs because they were so small."
Mr Minikula said he saw that the woman's waist up to her head was burnt.
He walked to the Toorak Police Post, reported the incident and returned with an officer.
Mr Sokomuri said officers sent to the crime scene found the body lying there partly burnt and partly naked.
"We have also received the post mortem examination report that revealed the woman died of asphyxiation due to throttling," he said.
When the Fiji Times visited the scene yesterday, police were looking for clues around the deceased's home.
The home was cordoned off and under police guard.
Mrs Wati's son, Rohit Prasad, and his wife, Ashni, were escorted to the Central Police Station in Suva for questioning.
Family members were too distraught to talk when approached yesterday.
