Assam woman found dead inside techie's locked apartment in Noida

An 18-year-old woman from Assam was found dead in Noida with multiple injuries. Police suspect murder and are awaiting the autopsy report.

The body of an 18-year-old woman from Assam, who had come to Noida after leaving home about a fortnight ago, was found with multiple injuries inside a locked residence of an engineer in Noida’s Sector 49, police said on Tuesday.

Police are awaiting the autopsy report to determine the exact cause of death and rule out sexual assault. (Photo by Sunil Ghosh / Hindustan Times)

A murder case has been registered at Sector 49 police station, police said. Investigators are also awaiting the autopsy report to determine the exact cause of death and rule out sexual assault.

The woman, a native of Dibrugarh, had left her hometown without informing her family along with another 18-year-old woman, in search of a job, investigators said. The two had subsequently reached Noida and were staying in Sector 49.

The matter came to light around noon on Monday after the landlord of a four-storey building in Barola reported a foul smell emanating from a locked room on the first floor. Police reached the spot, identified the occupant and broke open the door.

Multiple injuries, cut marks all over face

The body had begun decomposing, police said. A woman living in a neighbouring room identified the victim as her friend.

According to investigators, the victim had last spoken to her friend on Friday night. She subsequently went missing and her phone was switched off. “According to the friend, the victim used to leave the room without informing her, and she thought that she would return on her own,” the officer said.

Investigators also found that the victim’s friend had seen a man, identified by police as the accused B.Tech graduate, talking to the victim on Saturday evening. The room was later found locked from outside and the man was not present, an investigator said.

Police said the suspect had worked for a multinational IT company in Noida and had rented the one-room unit around four months ago. “We found during investigation that he had been unemployed in recent weeks,” said another officer.

The victim’s cellphone is missing and police suspect the accused may have taken it with him. The sharp-edged weapon allegedly used in the killing has also not been recovered, officials said.

Post-mortem examination being conducted

The woman’s family in Assam has been informed. Her post-mortem examination was being conducted on Tuesday. Investigators also learnt that both women had left their homes on July 3 without informing their families. After reaching Noida, they later contacted their families and told them about their decision to leave home.

Police said they had not yet established whether the victim was sexually assaulted. “The cause of death, injuries, etc. will be revealed in the autopsy report,” said Manisha Singh, additional deputy commissioner of police, Noida.

Singh said a case under Section 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita had been registered at Sector 49 police station and teams had been formed to arrest the suspect.

Ram Prasad Sharma, Station House Officer of Sector 49, said, “During the investigation, neighbouring tenants also revealed that on Saturday around 2 am, the woman was seen walking in the corridor while the suspect was sitting in an inebriated condition outside his room.”

The CCTV cameras installed at the building were inactive and went for repairing around a fortnight back, police said adding now outside cameras are being scanned to check when he left the premises.