SIVAGANGA: A 21-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly raping and murdering a mentally-ill woman at Sakkottai last Saturday. The suspect, a relative to the woman, allegedly sexually assaulted her before and after murdering her, said a senior police official.
According to sources, the 28-year-old woman from the Pudukottai district had gone to a temple on Saturday evening but did not return home on that day. She was later found dead at an isolated place in Sakkottai police station limits on Sunday. Forensic and postmortem examination reports confirmed the woman was raped. Following an inquiry, the police detained the suspect.
"The man took the woman to an isolated place when she was on her way to the temple, and raped her. When she tried to free herself, he strangled her to death with her shawl. He left the body and went to his house. Later, he came back and raped the corpse."
The police added he was having an interest in the girl, and knew she went alone to the temple. Sakkottai police had initially registered a case under section 174 of CrPC and later changed the sections to 302 and 376 of the IPC on Tuesday.