In an untoward incident, an 18-year-old college student was found murdered in her hostel room in south Mumbai while a security guard, who is a suspect in the case, was found dead on railway tracks, police said.
It is suspected that the deceased college girl was sexually assaulted, but it can be ascertained only after the autopsy report is available, an official said on Tuesday.
The victim was a student of a government polytechnic in suburban Bandra.
The 18-year-old, who hailed from Vidarbha in Maharashtra, was missing and the police were informed accordingly.
She had been untraceable since Tuesday afternoon with her hostel room on the fourth floor locked from the outside.
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About the suspect
According to police, the 30-year-old suspect, identified as Om Prakash Kanaujia, was absconding from the hostel premises.
His body was later sent to GT Hospital for postmortem.
It has been told that the suspect had been working as a guard for 15 years at Savitri Phule Women's Hostel, located near the Police Gymkhana in south Mumbai.
What did police find?
Police were alerted at around 5 pm on Tuesday after she became untraceable, with her fourth-floor hostel room in Churchgate area locked from outside.
A police team that entered the hostel room found her dead with a dupatta (stole) wrapped around her neck.
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An FIR for murder was registered at the Marine Drive police station and further probe was on, he added.
"We got information that at Savitri Bai Hostel, a girl was missing and her room was locked from the outside. She was found dead inside with a dupatta around her neck. Police suspect that she was murdered after rape. A man working at the hostel had been absconding ever since the incident. We are investigating the matter," said Additional Commissioner Abhinav Deshmukh.
(With PTI Inputs)
