Delhi-based couple, who went missing from Dehradun, killed by cab driver

Dehradun, Nov 11: A Delhi-based woman tourist was allegedly raped and murdered and her male friend killed by a taxi driver and his three accomplices here, police said today.

The 27-year-old woman and her 24-year-old male companion had arrived in Dehradun on October 21 to celebrate Diwali, but were reportedly missing after two days, Vikasnagar Circle Officer Swapan Kishore Singh said. The four accused, including the cab driver Raju, Bablu, Guddu and Kundan, have been arrested, and were being interrogated, he said.

One of the accused has confessed during interrogation that he raped the woman before killing her, police sources claimed, adding that this can be confirmed only after her body was found. The incident happened on October 23 when the victims were returning in the taxi from the Tiger Falls about 30 km from Chakrata near here. As there was no news about them for several days, the woman's father lodged a complaint in Delhi on October 29, they said.

The matter came to light after her friend's body was recovered from Purola town in Uttarkashi district. The sources said that the accused confessed that the woman's body was dumped in the Yamuna river near Lakhamandal while her friend's body was thrown from a cliff about two km from there.

Search has been launched to find the girl's body from the Yamuna. The woman taught at a school in Gurgaon, whereas her friend was a resident of Dumdum in Kolkata.

PTI