Uttarakhand: Nurse sexually assaulted, killed while returning from work

A nurse of a private hospital has been allegedly raped and killed with her face crushed with a stone by the accused who dumped her body in a vacant plot in a Uttar Pradesh village near the Uttarakhand border, police said on Friday, 16 August.

Missing since July 30 while returning home from work, the nurse's body was recovered from Dibdiba village on 8 August with her face mutilated beyond recognition, Superintendent of Police of Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar Manjunath TC said.

According to police, the accused, after committing the crime, looted all the money from her purse, her mobile phone and other valuables and fled.

The spot from where the nurse's body was recovered is not far from her residence in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur district which is on the border of Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district.

Police began an investigation into the case after the victim's sister lodged a missing complaint on 31 July, a day after the incident. SSP Manjunath said the victim was traced with the help of CCTV footage and by tracking the location of her mobile phone.

The accused, Dharmendra, who worked as a labourer in Uttarakhand's Gadarpur, was arrested from Rajasthan on 13 August, the police officer said, adding the accused hails from Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh.

During interrogation, Dharmendra revealed that he followed the nurse while she was returning home from work with the intention to loot her as he was in need of money, SSP Manjunath said.

When she reached a deserted area, he forcibly took her to the bushes and throttled her unconscious with a scarf when she tried to raise an alarm. The accused then raped her and crushed her face with a stone, the police officer said.

The incident comes amid widespread protest over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor a state-run medical college and hospital in Kolkata. She was allegedly raped and murdered while on duty.