KRISHNAGIRI: A 62-year-old woman was raped and murdered by an unidentified person, who took away her gold ornaments, near Mathigiri here on Wednesday night.
Police said the woman’s husband had died several years ago and she was living with her only son.
Pointing out that they were rearing three goats, the woman’s 42-year-old son said she had gone out to graze them and returned home in the evening.
“After that, she ventured out once again to collect scrap steel from a nearby steel company. When she didn’t return home for hours, I went in search of her,” her son said.
To his horror, he found the naked dead body of her mother in the backyard of the steel firm. He immediately alerted the Mathigiri police, who sent the body to the government hospital at Hosur for postmortem and initiated probe.
An investigation officer said preliminary inquiry has revealed that the woman was raped and then strangulated. “The person who raped her, strangled her to death using her sari. He has also taken away her earrings and gold chain worth Rs 1 lakh.”
The body was returned to the family members after the autopsy on Thursday. The Mathigiri police have registered a case under Sections 302 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code and further inquiry is on.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)