Srinagar: A trust turned fatal in Srinagar’s Nowshera area on Thursday after a 65-year-old woman was brutally murdered inside her home, allegedly by her domestic help. The incident triggered a police manhunt that culminated in the accused’s arrest in South Kashmir.
The deceased has been identified as Rashida Begum (65), wife of Lateef Ahmad Gangoo of Mud Bagh, Nowshera. According to her family, she was first struck on the head with a cricket bat and then killed with a sharp-edged weapon, believed to be a knife.
The accused, aged around 20 and hailing from Orissa, was employed as a domestic help at the victim’s residence. After committing the crime, he fled the scene, taking along the deceased’s mobile phone.
“She treated him like her own son, but he repaid her trust with murder. He hit her on the head and then slit her throat. We are still unable to believe what happened,” the deceased’s younger brother told Kashmir Images, adding that the crime was reported around 2:30 pm.
Family members said the motive appears to be robbery, with gold and other valuables suspected to have been stolen from the house.
The woman was found lying in a pool of blood inside her residence, following which police launched a massive manhunt to trace the accused. A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) also visited the crime scene and collected samples for further evidence.
The body was shifted to the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, where doctors declared her dead on arrival and completed medico-legal formalities.
Police later arrested the accused from the Qazigund area of South Kashmir after tracking the location of the victim’s mobile phone.
“The accused was arrested while attempting to flee the Valley. He was tracked through the mobile phone stolen from the deceased after committing the crime,” a police official from Police Station Soura told Kashmir Images, adding that a case has been registered and investigation is underway.
