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Body on bench: Dismissed ASI arrested for rape, murder of 23-year-old nurse
The accused raped the victim at his house before strangulating her to death. He also deleted closed-circuit television camera footage from his house, cops said
Almost a fortnight after a 23-year-old nurse’s body was found on a bench near a pond in Sohana, a dismissed assistant sub-inspector was arrested for raping and murdering her on Friday.
The accused, Rashpreet Singh, 35, resident of Sector 86, was working at a private hospital in the tricity area. He was dismissed from the police force in 2021 after he hit a man with his gun during a property dispute with one Naresh Kumar Khanna of Sector 71. He had been booked under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 342 (wrongful confinement), 458 (house trespass), 382 (theft on property in another person’s possession) ,and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) besides the Arms Act on December 21, 2020.
Rashpreet was identified with the help of CCTV footage and was arrested in Sector 67, Mohali. Confirming the arrest, a senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said, “Now that the accused is in police custody, we will be able to ascertain the motive for murder.”
“The accused raped the victim at his house before strangulating her to death. He also deleted closed-circuit television camera footage from his house,” the officer said, adding that the accused has also been booked under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code, besides rape and murder.
Another cop, on condition of anonymity, said that Rashpreet had installed lights on the number plate of the scooter, on which he carried the victim’s body , which made it difficult to decipher.
The officer added that Rashpreet, who is married and has two children, had been in touch with the victim for at least two years.
The postmortem report has revealed the cause of death as “asphyxia due to throttling”. The victim was found dead on a bench on November 13.
