A 40-year-old woman was brutally raped and murdered at Perumbavooor, near Kochi in Kerala, during the wee hours of Wednesday. A migrant worker hailing from Assam, identified as Umer Ali, was held by the police in this connection.
According to local police sources, the woman's body was found near a shop on Wednesday morning. The accused was traced with the help of CCTV footage of nearby shops. The woman was forcibly taken to a nearby vacant area after being threatened and was raped. Then, she was murdered using some crude weapons and the body was abandoned near the shop.
The victim was a resident of the locality. The incident took place by around 1 am.
It may be recalled that a migrant worker was earlier held in connection with the brutal killing a law student at Perumbavoor in 2016.