Cops file chargesheet in physiotherapist rape and murder case

The city police today filed a chargesheet in the rape and murder case of a 26-year-old physiotherapist, who was found dead at her house in suburban Vile Parle in December last year.
Police had arrested Debashis Dhar (27) from Midnapore in West Bengal in the first week of February in connection with the crime and have charged him for rape (376 of IPC) and murder (302 of IPC).
The prosecution is banking on the DNA sample of Dhar which matched with the samples taken from the crime spot as the main evidence in the case, a senior official said.
The 654-page chargesheet contains statements of 19 witnesses, panchnama reports, findings of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and confession of the accused, investigating officer Mahadev Nimbalkar said.

The victim's body was found in her house in Vile Parle on December 6.
The culprit had tried to burn the body by setting on fire books, clothes and some other material in the room.

The parents of the victim lived in the adjacent house.
Autopsy report revealed that she was raped and strangled, said police.
During investigations, while scanning the CCTV footage of the area, police spotted a man roaming in suspicious manner during the night when the crime took place.
It was only after over 50-days that the police zeroed in on Debashish Dhar. They also found that he had left for his home in West Bengal after the incident.

The accused, who worked with a jewellery store, admitted that he had committed the crime.
Dhar told the police that he worked in the same area and used to see the victim very often.
On the night of the incident, Dhar saw the victim returning home and followed her. As she left the door open, he entered and strangled her with a pair of jeans after raping her.