Fourteen years after an MBA student was brutally raped and murdered in Sector 38 West, Chandigarh, a local court has filed charges against the culprit, Monu Kumar. The development clears the way for the trial to begin.
The victim’s body was discovered in July 2010 near her home in Sector 38 West. Kumar, a resident of Shahpur Colony in the same sector, has been accused under Sections 376 (rape) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. Kumar has pleaded not guilty.
Additional Sessions. Judge Yashika has set the next hearing on September 11, during which the prosecution will begin presenting its case. The chargesheet, issued on August 2, states that Kumar reportedly admitted to the murder during a police interview. According to the chargesheet, Kumar came across the victim when she was conversing on her phone near the Karan Taxi Stand in a remote region. He reportedly struck her with a heavy stone, rendering her unconscious, before dragging her into the bushes and assaulting her. Kumar is also accused of stealing one of her phones, selling it, and discarding the other.
The case initially faced setbacks, including a period when the investigation seemed to hit a dead end, leading to an untraced report filed in February 2020. However, a breakthrough came with a similar murder case in 2022. The pattern of the crimes led police to re-examine the 2010 case. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory’s preservation of semen samples from both victims helped confirm that Kumar was responsible for both crimes.
Kumar, who had been living apart from his wife and two girls since 2011, was also implicated in a similar crime in 2022, which supplied key leads for solving the previous case. He is now jailed at Chandigarh Model Jail.
The court’s decision to file charges provides hope for justice for the victim’s family and demonstrates law enforcement’s determination to tackle long-standing incidents of violent crime.
