Srinagar: A 24-year-old British tourist was found murdered on a houseboat in Srinagar’s Dal Lake on Saturday. The Dispatch News Desk (DND) reported). Police have detained a Dutch national suspected to have committed the murder, Kashmir police chief said.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Abdul Ghani Mir told a news agency: “A 24-year-old British national was found murdered in a local houseboat this morning. A Dutch national, De-wit Richard, has been detained for investigations in this connection”. The police said the victim was from Manchester. They identified the woman as Sarah Groves.
She was found in a pool of blood inside her room in the houseboat this morning, police said. Asked whether the victim had been raped before the murder, the police chief said: “While preliminary investigation has confirmed that the 24-year-old woman was murdered, we are investigating other angles. Forensic evidence is being collected.”
The Dutch national was living in the same houseboat, in a room adjacent to the victim’s room. The door of her room was found smashed by the police. “The Dutch national had fled from the houseboat in the night, leaving behind his belongings. He was trying to flee from the Valley, carrying only his passport. We flashed an alert for his arrest,” the police chief said, revealing that the man was held at Qazigund of south Kashmirs’ Anantnag district.
Some reports say that the UK national was raped before being killed.
The victim had been a regular visitor to the houseboat in Srinagar for three years, the vessel’s owner said. “She was like our family member and would often eat with us,” Abdul Rahim Shoda, the houseboat owner, told AFP. “She was like my daughter and my soul is crying.” Shoda said he discovered the victim “lying on the floor, drenched in blood” several hours after midnight when he got up to do his regular prayers. “I just went mad seeing what was in front of me,” he said.
Every year, thousands of tourists visit Kashmir, known as the “Switzerland of the East” for its snow-capped mountains, lakes and breathtaking landscapes, many of them staying on numerous brightly decorated houseboats dotting Dal Lake.
Last month, a 39-year-old Swiss cyclist was allegedly gang-raped and robbed by six men in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Also last month, a British woman dental hygienist suffered leg injuries when she jumped from a hotel balcony in the northern tourist city of Agra, fearing a sexual assault by hotel employees.
The safety of women in India has been in the spotlight since the December fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapy student on a bus in New Delhi, which sparked nationwide outrage.
