Amritsar, February 16
The local police today booked constable Kewal Krishan on charges of raping and murdering a middle-aged woman, mother of four children, in an abandoned room of the Grain Market here today ,even as hundreds of residents blocked traffic for about four hours in protest against the crime.

The irate mob gheraoed the Hakimanwala police chowki to force the police to register the case against alleged culprit.

Jaimal Singh, husband of the deceased, alleged that his wife had gone to the market to purchase vegetables but did not return till late last evening. However, some persons told the family members that the victim was seen with Kewal Krishan , constable posted in the same police station . He told the police that after a hunt, the body of his wife was found from the room of a trading company in the Grain Market which was bolted from outside.

Mr Kaustab Sharma, SP (City I), said the constable had been taken into custody for investigation. He, however, said the constable had been booked on the basis of the presumption of the family members of the victim that she was raped and killed by the constable. He said it was not possible for a person to forcibly take a woman to a faraway place, rape her and then resort to killing.

The agitating residents of Angarh and its adjoining areas forced the shopkeepers to down their shutters in protest against the alleged rape and murder of the woman. They were raising slogans like ‘Punjab police murdabad’. They demanded exemplary punishment to the constable. They said that the culprits be brought before the people.

They lifted the gherao only after the DSP, Mr J.S. Ghuman, said that the accused had been arrested . The three sons, Gurpreet Singh , Harpreet Singh and Manpreet Singh and daughter Balwinder Kaur of the victim were also present at the time of agitation.