In a heinous crime that has come to light, a man from Assam’s Udalguri district was held for killing a woman and copulating with the corpse.

The incident took place on August 25 and her body was exhumed for autopsy on September 6. According to reports, the accused in the case surrendered to the Udalguri Sadar police station on Friday after which the abominable crime came to the fore.

Officials said that he confessed to committing the crime stating that the woman, aged 42 years old, had gone for a bath in a nearby stream when he went after her.

Meanwhile, police framed charges of rape and murder against the assailant, a daily wage worker after he surrendered. He was then sent to 14 days of judicial custody on Saturday by a local court.

Locals from the village told that the husband of the victim was at first not convinced that someone from the village could be behind the heinous act.

A resident of the area was quoted by TOI as saying, “We got information that when the woman was having a bath, the accused went from behind and hacked her to death. Later, he raped her. But initially, the picture was hazy and that’s why her husband was not ready for a serious legal battle since the villagers could not identify any accused.”

Moreover, soon after the incident, a village lobby allegedly tried to alter to the facts by spreading rumours of supernatural powers behind the death of the woman, informed officials.

However, after the family members of the victim started demanding a proper probe into the incident, police dug her body out for post mortem.

Udalguri SP Supriya Das said, “Her body was sent for post-mortem in the presence of the magistrate. Yesterday, we could arrest the boy and a case has been registered under sections 376/302 of the IPC. We will try to close the case to its logical conclusion as soon as possible and take it for trial.”

She added that further details will come to the fore after the reports of the autopsy arrive.