The accused behind the gruesome rape and murder of a physiotherapist from Vile Parle that shook Mumbai has been nabbed.
Mumbai Police has arrested one of her neighbours, Debashish Dhar, and the investigation points towards unrequited love and obsession as the motive of the crime, reports Mid-Day. They located him in Kolkata, from where a team working on the case took him into custody.
The 25-year-old victim was found strangulated at her home with burn injuries on her face in December.
Dhara, who does odd jobs to earn a living and hails from Kolkata, had been obsessively following her for quite sometime and she had spurned all his advances. He confessed to police that he had been in love with her, but she rejected his proposal.
He stayed in a room behind the chawl where the victim stayed with her parents and he used to keep a close eye on her movements. So, when she came back home on that fateful night, he saw her door unlocked after her friends left and went in.
He first strangulated her with a pair of jeans and then raped her. Before leaving, he tried to burn her body by putting some papers on her and setting them on fire. Seeing some smoke coming out of the room the neighbours alerted her parents.
Headway In the Case After Heavy Investigation
CCTV footage from outside the building led the police to the accused. Images from the footage were poor therefore, he could not be recognised instantly. But on the basis of the footages they prepared a description and a list of people from around the neighbourhood who matched the profile.
Police questioned several friends and neighbours of the victim, but with no lead. They digitally enhanced the retrieved images to identify the suspect’s face.
After nearly two months of investigation, the breakthrough came when the locals from the area recognised him from the footage.
He had fled to Kolkata when he got a hint that police were looking for him. They managed to locate him in a village on the border of Howrah and 24-Parganas districts. They got the details of his hometown from the jewellery store where he worked.
His DNA samples along with a few other suspects’ have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for profiling, reports Times of India. Sources said the report is likely to be ready by Friday. He will be produced before court on Saturday.
(Source: Mid-Day, Mumbai Mirror, Times of India)
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