A daily wage labourer was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the death of a nurse working at a private hospital in Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district, The Indian Express reported. The body of the nurse was discovered a week ago from her village in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district.
Police report that Dharmendra Kumar from Bareilly is accused of sexually assaulting and murdering the woman after intercepting her on July 30, while she was returning home alone from her shift at the hospital. The following day, July 31, the woman’s sister reported her missing after she failed to return home.
The nurse’s body was found at an empty plot a week later.
Udham Singh Nagar Senior Superintendent Of Police Manjunath T C said while searching for the woman, they found that she had reached her village before she was attacked in Uttar Pradesh. “On August 8, we were informed about the body of a woman having been recovered from bushes in that area. It was soon confirmed that it was the body of the missing woman,” they added.
During the investigation, the police found the victim’s phone in Rajasthan. Using technical and CCTV evidence, the police saw the accused following the victim. The accused occasionally worked as a daily wage laborer in the town of Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand. He was apprehended in Rajasthan.
He has confessed to the crime. Dharmendra Kumar is a drug addict, the police revealed, adding that after sexually harassing the victim and assaulting her, he took her belongings and escaped.
“On the day of the incident, he saw the woman going alone. As per our information, he stopped the woman, who fought back fiercely. She was, however, overpowered and… strangled her to death,” the SSP said. Police have also recovered the clothes he was wearing during the incident, along with his mobile phone and SIM card.