A 21-year-old woman employee, who was missing since Friday night from work, was found murdered near her house in Noida, with police suspecting that she might have been raped.
The victim was resident of Chotpur colony and was returning from the factory in Sector 65 around 9 pm for her home in Sector 63 with four other female colleagues, police said.
Outside the Chotpur colony, her colleagues went their separate ways and she proceeded towards her house but never reached there. Her family members searched for her but could not trace her.
On Saturday morning, the semi-nude body of the woman with injury marks on it was recovered from Pushta area in Sector 63 area. At first, police had said the woman was working in a call centre but later when the complaint was lodged the woman was stated to be an employee of a garment factory in sector 65.
A post-mortem was conducted by a two-doctor panel and the sealed report was given to police, said a district hospital official.
"We have registered a case under IPC section 376 (rape), 302 (murder) and 201(destroying evidence) against two unnamed persons," a senior police official said adding special teams have been formed to arrest the culprits.
Relatives of the deceased woman blocked the traffic near Chhijatsi intersection on National Highway no 24 for about an hour. Later, contingents of additional policemen were deployed and the traffic jam was cleared.
Gautam Buddha Nagar Member of Parliament Surindera Singh Nagar of the Bahujan Samaj Party charged the girl was raped and murdered.
"If the police try to suppress the case, I will raise the issue in Parliament", he said and alleged that "law and order in the state has deteriorated and women were feeling unsafe".
Nagar alleged that when the woman's parents went to the police to lodge the missing person report, they were sent back saying she may have eloped with her paramour. "Her body was recovered from Pushta area. This shows how insensitive the policemen have become," said the MP.
