Woman found dead filed rape plaint in U’khand

NOIDA: The 47-year-old woman who was found dead in the shrubbery of her high-rise in Sector 137 last week had lodged a rape complaint against one of her neighbours in Ranikhet, Uttarakhand, just days before her death, police said on Monday.

While police were initially suspecting that the woman had died by suicide, they are now investigating the case from all angles, including murder.

“We are investigating the case from all angles, including murder, because the crime scene is unable to give an explanation for suicide in the matter. Moreover, since the body was a few days old when it was sent for an autopsy, a lot of crucial evidence may have been lost to decomposition,” Harish Chander, deputy commissioner of police (central Noida) said.

According to police, the woman went missing on May 9, and was found dead in the shrubbery of her residential society on May 11--about 10 feet from her first-floor apartment where she lived with her husband, who works in a multinational firm, and two children aged 13 and 19.

Police said the woman had left home on May 5 for Ranikhet after informing her younger son. Her husband was in Ranchi for work at the time, said police.

“On May 5, the woman boarded a bus to Ranikhet from Anand Vihar ISBT. She stayed at a hotel. On May 7, she went to a local police station and lodged an FIR under Section 376 (rape) against a member of her society’s Apartment Owner’s Association of which she was a part until February this year,” the DCP said.

Police said the woman alleged that the man raped her in March.

Police lodged a zero FIR in the case and called the woman’s husband. “Her husband came to Ranikhet on May 8 and brought her back home around 4.30am on May 9. According to the husband’s statement, she went missing around 6.30am,” said Chander, adding that the family does not know anyone in Ranikhet, and is not sure why she chose the place.

On May 11, a security guard spotted the woman’s body in the shrubbery near the stairs of the building in which she resided. According to the autopsy report, the cause of death was shock and haemorrhage.

Chander said they are investigating the woman’s complaint of rape. “We are investigating the woman’s FIR and have taken statements from the residents. So far, we found that the woman had not mentioned the sexual assault to anyone in her family or her society,” he said.

According to a police officer, who requested anonymity, her family members suspected that she was suffering from some sort of a psychological problem.

“Family members said she believed there was negative energy around her and used to feel scared and weak. They added that she could not sleep alone at night or even stay in the dark or go to the washroom alone,” Chander said, adding that investigators are mulling consulting psychiatrists and psychologists in the case.

He added that the family has not given a complaint in the matter of the woman’s death so far and the police are suo motu investigating the matter.

On May 7, she went to a local police station and lodged an FIR under Section 376 (rape) against a resident of her society here in Noida. HARISH CHANDER, DCP, Central Noida