New Delhi: Hours after a 22-year-old woman, the daughter of a senior Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, was found dead in her South Delhi apartment, police Wednesday arrested a suspect, identified as Rahul Meena, from a hotel in Dwarka.
Rahul started working as a domestic help at the family home a year ago and was hired on reference from the IRS officer’s junior, Joint CP (Southern Range) Vijay Kumar said. Rahul played online games, took “money from other domestic workers in the neighbourhood as loan and wouldn’t return the money,” said Kumar.
Kumar added that when the family received complaints about Rahul taking money from others and not returning it, they decided to remove him. “He was removed 1.5 months ago, and he did not come back to Kailash Hills house,” Kumar said.
On the case that came to light early Wednesday, police said the woman’s family members discovered her inside the house, following which the police were informed. A team was rushed to the crime scene. While there are indications of sexual assault, medical examination reports are awaited for official confirmation.
The victim’s father is a senior officer in the Income Tax department.
A senior police officer told ThePrint that the preliminary enquiry suggests that the victim, an engineering graduate, who was preparing for Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examinations, was allegedly sexually assaulted before being strangled to death with a mobile phone charger cable.
“The woman was discovered by her parents who took her to the hospital where the doctors, as per preliminary checks, opined sexual assault to police,” said the officer. The family also discovered a cable lying next to the body, police said.
The victim was alone at the time of the incident, police said. As per their routine, her parents had gone to the gym early in the morning. “The accused, who the family suspects used to work as a domestic worker, took advantage of this brief window and entered the house and committed the crime,” said an officer part of the probe.
The family had earlier told the police that they suspected the involvement of a 22-year-old domestic worker who had worked with the family for around eight months. “The worker had reportedly been removed from his job over a month ago for alleged misappropriation of daily purchase bills,” the officer added.
Police sources said the worker was familiar with the household, the layout of the house and the daily routine of other family members, including when the parents would step out for a walk or gym session.
The officer said that they suspect the accused entered the house around 6 am, following which he attacked the woman, then sexually assaulted her, and finally strangled her using a mobile charging cable before fleeing the spot.
“The woman received injuries on her face, especially a mark on her forehead, that suggests she was hit with a stick, and her neck has strangulation marks,” he said.
A case has been registered, and forensic teams have collected evidence from the crime scene.
Addressing the media later in the day, CP (Southern Range) Kumar revealed that a molestation case was filed against Rahul Meena in Rajasthan’s Alwar Tuesday (21 April). “When he was asked to not work at Kailash Hills, it is possible that he may have developed a grudge, however, exact motive will come out in further sustained interrogation,” Kumar said, adding that Rahul knew where the family kept the house key and used that information to gain entry.
“The current maid was on leave, hence he managed to gain entry,” Kumar said. The officer also told the media that the family reported Rs 2-2.5 lakh as missing.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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