THE police found the body of a woman constable — who had filed a rape case against a male colleague last year — in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki on Wednesday. The body, still in uniform, had head injuries inflicted using a blunt object, police said, adding that the woman had been missing for the past four days.
A case on charges of murder has now been registered against the male constable against whom the woman had levelled rape allegations earlier. The woman was in her 20s, police said.
The postmortem report is awaited. Police said all the circumstantial evidence so far points towards the male constable, who is posted in another district and is on the run. According to police sources, it appears that the woman was “murdered with a motive.”
The sources added that the woman had recently retracted her earlier statement in front of a magistrate, after which the police filed a closure report in the rape case. Police said preliminary investigation indicated that she had possibly been in a relationship with the male constable earlier.
“The picture will become clear only after questioning the male constable,” said Inspector General (Faizabad Range) Praveen Kumar.
The woman’s body was found in some bushes on the basis of information provided by a local resident.
A police team soon reached the spot. Her identity was confirmed through the nameplate on her uniform. The area was cordoned off and a forensic investigation was initiated.
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A senior police officer said the woman constable had been assigned duty and had left for work on July 27 but did not reach the spot.
