In the wake of nationwide protests over the brutal rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, another similar crime has emerged from Uttar Pradesh. A nurse returning from her job at a private hospital in Uttarakhand was raped and strangled near her home in Bilaspur, Uttar Pradesh.
The incident occurred on July 30 as the nurse was heading home from a hospital in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district. CCTV footage captured her taking an e-rickshaw from Indra Chowk in Rudrapur, but she never made it to her rented home in UP’s Rampur district, where she lived with her 11-year-old daughter.
Her sister filed a missing person report on July 31. Over a week later, her body was found on an empty plot approximately 1.5 kilometers from her home.
Udham Singh Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police Manjunath T C stated, “On July 30, we received a missing person report… When we searched for her, we learned she had reached her village in Uttar Pradesh. On August 8, we were informed about a woman’s body recovered from bushes in the area. It was soon confirmed to be the missing woman,” as reported by the Indian Express.
The police arrested the accused on Wednesday, a week after the body was discovered. They traced the nurse’s stolen mobile phone and used other technical evidence to locate the suspect in Rajasthan.
The accused, Dharmendra Kumar, a Bareilly resident and daily wage labourer, worked near the hospital where the nurse was employed. The police described him as a drug addict who did not know the victim. On the day of the incident, he allegedly followed her and attacked her as she was about to enter her apartment building.
According to the police, “The accused is a drug addict and does not know the woman. On the day of the incident, he saw the woman alone. He stopped her, and despite her fierce resistance, she was overpowered and strangled to death. He also sexually assaulted her. After the murder, he took her belongings and fled.” The accused has reportedly confessed to the crime.
