Picture for representation only.Kochi: In a shocking incident, the post-mortem report of a law student at Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district has revealed that she was murdered during a brutal rape.
The police have primarily inferred that the 30-year-old Dalit woman was subjected to cruel sexual assault, reports said.
Police sources said that the case could be compared to the heinous Nirbhaya gang-rape of New Delhi that rocked the nation.
According to autopsy report, intestines of the deceased had come out in the attack with a sharp object. There were 30 wounds on the victim's body, including two deep stab wounds on chest.
Kochi law student's brutal rape-murder: insider involved?
The student of Government Law College in Ernakulam was found dead inside her residence at Iravichira in Rayamangalam panchayat in Ernakulam last Thursday.
The body was found by the victim's mother who came home by 8.30 pm after her daily wages work.
Police said Ernakulam Range IG Mahipal Yadav is supervising the probe by a team of officials, headed by Perumbavoor Dy SP after it was reported that 30-year-old woman was subjected to rape and fatal assault at her small wayside home in Kuruppampadi police limit.
She was found dead in a pool of blood at 8 p.m. by her mother when she reached home after her daily menial job.
"It was a brutal murder. There were stab injuries on her body. We suspect she was subjected to smothering and strangulation," Yadav told PTI.
He, however, refused to share details about the investigation.
Police said whether the woman was subjected to sexual assault before or after the murder would be clear only from the postmortem report.
Opposition attacks UDF govt
The CPM has latched onto the murder which occurred on April 28 to accuse the Congress-led UDF government in the poll-bound Kerala of 'inaction' to trace the culprits.
"Police have failed to get any lead about the culprits even five days after the incident," CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said in Thiruvananthapuram.
Rejecting the charge, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said a "scientific" probe was being conducted into the incident and asserted that the culprits would be brought to book.
(With agency inputs)
