Chhattisgarh: Police in Gurdaspur district of Punjab has launched a manhunt for a 25-year-old labourer who they claim, raped and murdered an elderly woman on Monday night. This horrific incident has come to light from Kotli Harchanda village of Gurdaspur district which falls under the jurisdiction of the Bhaini Mian Khan police station.

Sohan Singh, the victim's son discovered her body at around 9am Tuesday and immediately alerted authorities. He told officials that his mother was alone at her house when she might have been attacked by the accused. The accused has been identified as Satinder Raut of Nepalese descent who worked as a labourer at a farm close to the victim's residence. Other men who worked with the accused at the farm told police officials that he was with them until midnight on the night of the crime but disappeared soon after.

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Harkirat Singh, station house officer (SHO) of the Bhiani Mian Khan police station told media outlets that an autopsy of the victim confirmed that she was raped and then murdered by the accused. A case under sections 302, 376 and 452 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against the accused, added Singh. These correspond to charges of murder, rape and house-trespass with the intention to hurt respectively.

This is not the first time a senior citizen has been subjected to such startling brutality in the state of Punjab. A similar instance was reported from Daun Kalan village, about 15 kilometres from Patiala, in August of 2018 when a 100-year-old woman was raped and murdered by a 25-year-old man. The woman was found lying half-naked on her cot, covered with blood. A police investigation later revealed that the accused, who lived in the same village as the woman, was a vagrant with no home or family.

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