81-year-old woman raped, murdered in Botad; 1 held

RAJKOT: A man was arrested for allegedly raping an 81-year-old woman and strangling her at her own house in Paliyad village of Botad district on Sunday.
Police said that the accused identified as Haresh Gabu was arrested based on statements of eyewitnesses who had seen Gabu entering the house of the deceased on Saturday. According to police, on June 3 the woman's body was found under suspicious conditions in her house. "Prima facie we found the death of the elderly woman suspicious. So, we sent the body for forensic postmortem," Botad deputy superintendent of police Maharshi Raval told TOI. "The postmortem report revealed that the woman was raped and then strangled. Based on eyewitness accounts, we have arrested Haresh Gabu and are questioning him," added Raval.
Police said that the woman had four children - a son and three daughters. All her daughters were married and lived with their husbands, while her son lived in Vadodara. Police added that statement of eyewitnesses nailed Gabu as some had seen him roaming near the woman's house.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)