Man nabbed in tri-city hunt after killing woman in Delhi who resisted rape

The accused fled his jhuggi and boarded a train to Baroda, where he was caught following relatives’ inputs and a detailed analysis of CCTV footage.

Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested a 28-year-old man in a three-state operation for the murder of a 40-year-old woman whose body was found without clothes near Adarsh Nagar railway station on Sunday.

Police said the accused, identified as Salman, told investigators he strangled and assaulted the woman after she resisted his attempt to rape her. (Photo for representation)(ANI)

Police said the accused, identified as Salman, told investigators he strangled and assaulted the woman after she resisted his attempt to rape her.

The case was reported when passersby spotted the woman’s body lying in dense shrubbery near the railway tracks. Police said the body bore multiple injury marks, and a pair of men’s and women’s slippers were recovered from the spot, indicating a struggle. Mahendra Park police registered a murder case and formed several teams to identify the woman and track suspects.

Investigators scanned CCTV cameras along access roads, footpaths and informal tracks leading to the location. One set of footage showed a man walking hurriedly and evasively around the estimated time of the crime. A police officer aware of the probe said the team tracked the man’s path frame by frame and identified him as Salman, who lived in a jhuggi at Sarai Peepal Thala.

When police reached his residence, they found he had fled soon after the incident. Investigators traced his background and learnt he had previously lived and worked in Baroda. A team was sent to his native home in Shamli, Uttar Pradesh, where relatives indicated he was likely heading to Baroda to hide with extended family. “A second team moved quickly to Gujarat and apprehended him from a relative’s home” the officer said.

During interrogation, police said Salman confessed that he had approached the woman while she was collecting garbage near Adarsh Nagar railway station and allegedly lured her to the rear side of the station. When she resisted his attempt to rape her, police said he strangled her and then attacked her with a knife and a stone before fleeing. Investigators said he boarded a train to Baroda soon after to evade arrest.

Police said further investigation is underway, including forensic examination of the crime spot and recovery of the weapon.