A 24-year-old British woman, holidaying in Kashmir, was found murdered inside a houseboat in the Dal Lake today and police arrested a Dutch national in connection with the crime.
Sara Elizabeth, apparently stabbed several times by her assailant, was found dead in a pool of blood inside her room in the houseboat here this morning, a police spokesman said.
He said police suspected the victim might have been raped before she was killed as her clothes were torn.
"The body of the woman has been sent for post mortem. Whether a sexual assault has taken place or not can be confirmed only after medical reports are received," the spokesman said.
A 43-year-old Dutch tourist, De-Wit Richard, who was staying in another room of the houseboat, had been arrested from Srinagar-Jammu national highway at Qazigund, 75-km from here, when he tried to flee the Valley, the spokesman said.
Richard had left his belongings at the houseboat and was only carrying his passport and some cash at the time of his arrest from the south Kashmir town, a police officer said.
Elizabeth had arrived in Kashmir on February 15 while Richard was here since April four, the officer said adding investigations so far do not show that the two were known to each other.
