Kochi: An 18-year-old boy was arrested for raping and murdering
a 34-year-old woman software engineer in Bengaluru, Mathrubhumi news reported.
The accused, hailing from Kodagu, was a neighbour of the victim.
Police said the accused allegedly raped and strangulated the woman to death and set the flat on fire to give an impression that the woman had died in the blaze.
On the night of January 3, the Fire and Rescue department received a call around 10.45 pm to report the blaze on the third floor of the apartment building.
The fire and rescue team reached the spot and put out the fire and recovered the charred body of the victim Sharmila D K hailing from Dakshina Kannada.
Sharmila, who worked in a tech company in Bengaluru, shared the apartment with a flatmate, who was out of town at the time of the incident.
Initially, the forensic examination failed to find a definitive source of the fire. The disappearance of the victim’s mobile phone led the police to go after it.
A complaint filed by her friend, who expressed doubts over the circumstances of the death, prompted police to intensify the probe.
Technical analysis and mobile phone tracking eventually led investigators to the accused, who lived in the adjacent house with his mother.
During interrogation, police said the accused confessed to the crime. He allegedly entered the victim’s flat around 9 pm on January 3 through a sliding window, to abuse her. When the woman resisted, he allegedly raped her and then covered her mouth and nose. She also sustained bleeding injuries during the struggle.
The accused allegedly placed the victim’s clothes and other materials on the bed and set them on fire to make the murder appear accidental. He then fled the scene after taking her mobile phone.
Teenager rapes, kill techie mature
