Nurse found dead at Telangana hospital quarters, Bihar mechanic held for rape-murder

A 34-year-old bike mechanic from Bihar has been arrested for allegedly raping and murdering a nurse at a hospital in Telangana's Thukkuguda area, police said on Monday, August 31.

The woman, who belonged to a Scheduled Tribe community and worked as a nurse at a hospital in the area, was found dead with injuries in a residential room on the hospital premises on August 29.

Following a complaint lodged by the woman's aunt, police registered a case under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Acting on technical evidence and specific information gathered during the investigation, police apprehended the accused on Saturday evening, DCP (Shamshabad Zone) B Rajesh told reporters.

The accused, a native of Bihar's Begusarai district, worked as a bike mechanic and was staying at the mechanic shop in Thukkuguda, located close to the hospital premises, police said.

"After apprehending and questioning him, he confessed to committing the crime of rape and murder," the DCP said.

According to police, the accused regularly consumed alcohol and watched pornographic videos and photographs on his mobile phone.

About a month before the incident, he allegedly noticed the woman through a rear-side window of the mechanic shop, developed a sexual interest in her and began monitoring her movements, Rajesh said.

After learning that she worked as a nurse and lived in the hospital's residential quarters, he allegedly planned to sexually assault her.

During the intervening night of August 28 and 29, he allegedly entered the woman's room through a window, police said.

The woman woke up and raised an alarm, following which the accused allegedly covered her mouth with his left hand and held her throat with his right hand.

"During the struggle, she bit his left little finger and scratched his throat and the left side of his chest. Enraged, he allegedly assaulted her on the face, pushed her down and strangled her, rendering her unable to resist, and thereafter sexually assaulted her. After committing the offence, he closed the window and fled the scene," the DCP said.

Police suspect that the accused sexually assaulted the woman after she had fallen unconscious. Her medical report is awaited.

The investigation is continuing, with police collecting and analysing scientific, technical and other corroborative evidence in accordance with law, Rajesh said.

The incident came to light after a friend of the deceased, who also worked as a nurse at the hospital, informed the woman's aunt on August 29 that she had not come out of her room since morning and was not responding to repeated knocks.

The friend and the complainant subsequently entered the room through a window and found the woman lying dead with bleeding injuries on her face.

The complainant initially suspected that an unidentified person had assaulted and killed the woman with an unknown object, police said.

Further investigation is underway.

(With inputs from PTI)