The accused, Dharmendra Kumar, 30, from Bareilly, was arrested on Wednesday in Rajasthan. Police say he intercepted the nurse while she was walking home alone after her shift at a private hospital on July 30.

The nurse's sister filed a missing person report on July 31, and a week later, her body was found in an empty plot in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur district. Police found the woman's phone in Rajasthan and used technical and CCTV evidence to identify the accused.

"The accused is a drug addict and did not know the woman. He saw her walking alone, stopped her, and overpowered her after a fierce struggle. He strangled her to death and sexually assaulted her," said Udham Singh Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police Manjunath T C, as quoted by The Indian Express.

SSP Manjunath T C stated, "On July 30, we received a missing person report… When we searched for her, we got to know that she had reached all the way to her village (before being attacked) in Uttar Pradesh. On August 8, we were informed about the body of a woman having been recovered from bushes in that area. It was soon confirmed that it was the body of the missing woman.”

This comes amid the spiraling row over the gruesome sexual assault and murder of the on-duty 31-year-old junior doctor in Kolkata's state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. Women across Bengal and several other states in the country are hitting the streets from Wednesday night as a symbol of protest against the brutal incident.

Following the chilling details of the autopsy of the 31-year-old doctor, certain experts have now stated that the woman was gang-raped before being brutally murdered. 

Shaken by the revelation of harrowing details of the incident, thousands of doctors across the country initiated demonstrations and ceased work at several medical colleges and hospitals across the country.