Chamba: Chowari police cracks elderly woman’s murder, rape mystery

The brutal murder and alleged rape mystery of an elderly woman (63) was solved by the neighbouring Chowari police in Chamba district, with the arrest of one of the two accused involved in the crime yesterday. The deceased was a retired employee of the Jal Shakti Department and her naked body was recovered from the premises of Government Primary School at Kuther on August 19. It was suspected that the victim had been raped by the accused before strangulating her.

Following a thorough investigation, led by Chowari DSP Yog Raj Chandel, after the post-mortem examination of the victim, the Chowari police had detained four individuals three days ago, who were reportedly involved in an earlier assault on the victim’s son on August 9.

Following the investigation, the police identified two main accused, Rakesh Kumar (38) and Navneet (18) both local residents. Rakesh was arrested after he allegedly confessed to the crime during a conversation with an elected representative of the Kuther Gram Panchayat. He admitted to committing the offence along with Navneet.

DSP Chandel told The Tribune that based on this confession and initial findings, Rakesh was arrested and produced in a court, which remanded him to four days in police custody for further questioning.

A case has been registered under sections 103 and 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the duo. Police teams have been deployed to apprehend Navneet, who is accused of raping the victim before she was murdered.

As per the statement of the arrested accused, both men had attended a Bhandara at a temple in Chowari. “On their way back, after consuming a large amount of liquor, they encountered the elderly woman, also reportedly intoxicated, lying by the roadside. They then took her to a local school in Kuther village, where the crime was committed,” the DSP said.

The DSP added that efforts are underway to arrest the second accused at the earliest.