Police arrest one for rape-murder of wife of MLA's representative in Jharkhand's Latehar

Latehar (Jharkhand), Sep 29 (PTI) The police on Monday claimed to have cracked the rape and murder case of a 43-year-old woman, who was the wife of the local representative of an MLA in Jharkhand's Latehar district.

The accused is stated to be a relative of the victim's husband.

Mahuadand Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Shiv Pujan Bahelia told PTI that the MLA's representative had lodged a missing report of his wife at the Bareshand police station on Friday evening.

"During search, the police found the body of the woman in a forest in Bareshand area on Saturday. Prima facie it appeared to be a case of murder, and we began an investigation. Police picked up the accused who happened to be a relative of the husband," the SDPO said.

He said that during interrogation, the accused who is also a resident of the same village confessed to murdering the woman after raping her.

"The accused claimed that he knew the woman and had raped her while she had gone to the forest on Friday afternoon to collect teeth-cleaning twigs. When the woman threatened to inform the villagers about what he had done, he hit her with an axe and killed her," the police officer said.

The axe used in the crime was recovered from the spot shown by the accused. PTI CORR ANB NN