New Delhi: The Uttarakhand Police has constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to probe into the alleged rape and murder of a 33-year-old nurse from the Rudrapur area of the Udham Singh Nagar district of the state.
“For a thorough investigation in this sensitive matter and to clear any doubts and suspicions of the victim’s family, we have formed a SIT into the rape and murder case. The SIT will be headed by SP (city) Manoj Katyal. SP(crime) Chandrashekhar Ghodke will supervise the SIT. SIT will collect all quality evidence through technical and forensic angles so that the court awards the accused punishment. SIT will also look into suspicious involvement of other people in the murder and conspiracy,” said senior superintendent of police (SSP) Uddham Singh Nagar Manjunath T.C., according to Hindustan Times.
The nurse, who left her home in Rudrapur to her workplace on July 30 at a private hospital on Nainital Road, did not return home. The next day the nurse’s sister filed a missing complaint at Rudrapur police station. Her body was finally found in a colony near the Bilaspur area of Uttar Pradesh near the Uttarakhand-UP border on August 8. The incident led to a blame game between UP and Uttarakhand Police, as UP Police did not register a case.
“As the crime had happened in UP and the body was also found there, we notified the UP police, expecting them to take charge, but they didn’t respond. The victim’s family also approached them to register a case after identifying the body, but their pleas were ignored,” said an officer from US Nagar Police, according to The Times of India. “It was only after this that we decided to probe the case by sending our forensic team and dog squad to UP and eventually arresting the accused in Rajasthan based on the evidence we collected,” the officer added.
On August 13, the US Nagar police arrested a man from the Jodhpur area of Rajasthan. The accused has been identified as 28-year-old Dharmendra Kumar from Bareilly, who worked as a construction labourer. He fled from UP to Rajasthan after the crime.
