MP woman raped, her body burned in Morbi

RAJKOT: A man was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly raping a woman, strangling her and burning her body with the intent to hide her identity in Morbi town on Monday.
The accused Ravi Hadiyal (22), a mason by profession, was arrested by Morbi police, for murdering Kampaben Muniya (25), a native of Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh.
The naked and half-burnt body of the victim, who was mother of a 15-month-old boy, was found at a construction site behind the Morbi Circuit House on Tuesday evening by some labourers working there. Initially, the deceased could not identified as the face was completely burnt. Postmortem revealed that Muniya was raped before she was strangled. Kerosene or petrol was used to burn the body, police said.
According to police, Hadiyal, a resident of Sannala Road in Morbi, had hired Muniya as labourer at his site couple of days back. On Tuesday morning, Muniya had come to work along with her toddler son at the construction site where Hadiyal was working.
Taking advantage of her being alone at the site, Hadiyal allegedly raped her. However, when she insisted on going back home, Hadiyal strangled her fearing she might tell her family members about what he had done. He also burnt the body to hide the woman’s identity.
Later, Hadiyal took Muniya’s son to her mother’s house in Vijaynagar area and left him there. However, this raised suspicion following which Muniya’s mother Kamla Tajsingh lodged a police complaint. Muniya’s husband works in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh.
During interrogation, Hadiyal admitted of raping and killing Muniya, police said. He also admitted that he had used a cloth to strangle Muniya fearing that she would get him arrested. Hadiyal was arrested from his residence and will be produced before court on Wednesday.