(NTI) : A nurse working at a private hospital in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, was allegedly raped and murdered while returning home from work, according to police reports on Friday. The accused reportedly crushed her face with a stone and abandoned her body in an empty plot in a village in Uttar Pradesh, near the Uttarakhand border. The nurse had been missing since July 30, and her body was discovered on August 8 in Dibdiba village, with her face mutilated beyond recognition, as confirmed by Manjunath T C, Superintendent of Police for Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand.
Police stated that the perpetrator stole all the money from the nurse’s purse, along with her mobile phone and other valuables, before fleeing the scene.
The location where the nurse’s body was found is close to her home in Rampur district, Uttar Pradesh, which borders Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district.
The investigation began when the victim’s sister filed a missing person report on July 31, a day after the incident. SSP Manjunath revealed that the victim was located through CCTV footage and by tracking her mobile phone’s location.
The accused, Dharmendra, a laborer from Gadarpur in Uttarakhand, was arrested on August 13 in Rajasthan. He hails from Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh.
During interrogation, Dharmendra confessed to following the nurse with the intention of robbing her, as he was in desperate need of money, according to SSP Manjunath. When the nurse reached a secluded area, he dragged her into the bushes and strangled her unconscious with a scarf when she attempted to call for help.
The accused then raped her and brutally crushed her face with a stone, the police officer said.
This incident comes amid widespread outrage over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a state-run medical college and hospital in Kolkata, where she was allegedly raped and killed while on duty.
