The gruesome rape and murder of 25-year-old physiotherapist on Tuesday morning has left Mumbai in shock. According to news reports, police have now said that the physiotherapist was first strangled to death and then raped and sodomised.
The investigation into the case has been stepped up owing to the brutality of the crime and the lack of any solid leads so far. Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashok Dudhe is overseeing the probe.
Piecing Together the Ill-Fated Night
The victim lived in a two-storey structure with her parents, grandmother and sister; her room on the first floor had a separate entrance. Speaking to The Quint, police said that the victim and her friend Pallavi went to a nearby ATM to withdraw some money on Tuesday evening.
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At the ATM, they met two other friends, Ankit and Chaitali. The four of them then went to the victim’s house for dinner, after which Ankit and Chaitali left for their homes by 10:30 pm. Pallavi stayed back till 12:30 pm and upon leaving, she asked her friend to lock the door of her room before sleeping. The police said that instead, she drifted off to sleep without locking the door or switching off the lights.
Police Theories Until Now
The police say that there were no signs of a struggle and neither did her family on the ground floor hear any sound. The police believe that an “insider” (that is, a local who knew the area and its inhabitants) saw the lights of the room on. And, upon finding the door open, this “insider” entered the victim’s room – which is also why stray dogs in the area did not raise an alarm.
The police have interrogated around 50 people in connection with the case, including friends, family members and relatives. They have recorded the statements of her friends, although each of their alibis has turned out to be true, matching with their location details from mobile phone towers. However, cops have not let them off the hook yet. Habitual offenders and drug addicts from the area have also been questioned.
According to police, the assailant entered and first strangled her to death with his bare hands. He then proceeded to rape and sodomise her, Mid-Day reported. To make sure she was dead, he then tried to strangle her once more with her jeans. Books and clothes from her room and even her body were set on fire in an attempt to destroy any evidence.
The victim had scratch marks on her neck and injuries near her genitals. She also had burns on the left side of her face and an injury on her head. It is yet to be determined if there was more than one person involved. However, a doctor from Cooper Hospital & Medical College, where the post-mortem was conducted, suspects it to be a case of “a brutal gangrape”, Hindustan Times reported.
Simultaneous strangulation by hands and clothes and sexual assault, in a room that is hardly 6-feet-by-2-feet, without any signs of a scuffle, indicate there were two or more people who were known to the victim.Cooper Hospital Doctor
A forensic expert from Cooper Hospital also said they found an acid burn mark on her chest, but they did not find any traces of the liquid or a bottle in the room.
Door Locked From Outside After Crime
Around 3:30 am on Tuesday, the victim’s neighbour called her family to inform them about smoke coming out of her room. When her mother went upstairs to check, she found the room locked from outside and assumed that her daughter was out with friends. But when the neighbour flashed a torchlight into her room through a window, he saw the woman’s body on fire on her bed.
Her family then broke open the door, doused the fire and called the police.
The police have registered an offence under various sections of the IPC pertaining to murder, rape, unnatural sex, house trespass to commit serious offence, destruction of evidence and mischief by starting a fire in a house.
(This article was updated on 9 December 2016 after removing the name and photographs of the victim and her friends.)
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