SHILLONG: Police filed charge sheet against two accused in the murder of a nurse in the city.
The body of the 28-year-old nurse, Leiyaton Soro, who was staying at Lower Nongrim Hills, was found at Ryndangbriew viewpoint at Umiam on May 29.
Originally from Manipur’s Ukhrul district, Soro was working at Nazareth Hospital.
Police first arrested Anil Kumar, the neighbour of the nurse, and subsequently the co-accused identified as Santhosh from Uttar Pradesh. The duo are currently in judicial custody.
East Khasi Hills SP Davis Marak said the motive of the crime may be that Kumar, the main accused, had a relationship with the victim, who was set to marry another person.
It was the accused who identified the victim’s body from her earring that he had gifted her.
The SP said the charge sheet was filed a few days ago and later additional charge sheet was submitted.
According to the SP, the accused had drawn picture of a coffin and named the victim in a letter written by him.
The letter was sent to forensic test and the handwriting matched that of Kumar.
Secondly, the accused had given a wrist watch belonging to the victim to her sister. Police were curious to know how the watch came into the possession of the accused.
Though the accused said the victim forgot to take the watch from his room, police found out from the CCTV footage near the Nazareth Hospital premises that the victim was wearing the watch on the day she went missing.
As per the investigation of the police, Santhosh assisted Kumar in killing the victim. They used chloroform to make her unconscious and later Kumar strangulated her. Then they wrapped her body inside a refrigerator carton so that people would not notice what they were carrying, police said.
Both the accused worked in an electrical shop.
The duo took the body and dumped it near the Ryndangbriew viewpoint at Umiam. The carton was later torn into pieces near Polo side.
The body was taken in the vehicle belonging to Kumar.
Police had seized the blood stained vehicle after the incident and sample from there was sent for forensic examination to ascertain the blood group.
Earlier, Kumar had blamed the co-accused Santhosh for the murder.
However, the SP said Santhosh’s role was to help Kumar dump the body of the victim.
The SP said there were no eye witnesses and the charge sheet was based on technological evidences and forensic reports.
