A British tourist was found murdered on Saturday morning in her room on a houseboat in Srinagar’s Dal Lake. A Dutch national staying in another room on the same houseboat was found trying to flee Kashmir, leaving behind his belongings in his room. He was arrested from Qazigund, the gateway to the Valley from the south and about 75 km from the scene of the crime, and brought back to Srinagar for questioning.
The police said it has registered a case under RPC Sec. 302 and started investigation. The corpse of the 24-year-old Sarah Elizabeth Groves of Guernsey (Bailiwick of Guernsey) was taken for a forensic examination to determine the extent of her injuries and also whether she had been sexually assaulted. Abdur Rahim Shoda, the owner of the houseboat New Beauty, located in Kohnakhan quarter of the Dal, said Manchester-born Sarah had been staying in it for the past two months whereas the accused had checked in only a couple of days ago. Soda’s wife Hafeeza, who was inconsolable, said, “She was like my daughter. We spent some lovely moments together but that beast snatched her from us.”
She may have resisted sexual assault, a police official said, adding that the suspect smashed the latch on the houseboat cabin door before the attack.