Thane: A 22-year-old woman was brutally murdered by an unidentified person who fled with jewellery and other valuables from her house in the district's Ambernath township, police said Thursday.
The criminal barged into the Mahalakshmi Nagar apartment in Ambernath yesterday afternoon when the woman, Niharika Mohan Salunke, was alone as her mother, a teacher, had gone to school in Diva, Shivaji Nagar police station inspector Hemant Shinde said.
The assailant allegedly tied the girl's hands and legs with her stole, strangled her and then slit her throat before fleeing with the valuables, he said.
When the victim's mother returned from school, she found her daughter dead and valuables, including jewellery and an LCD television set, worth about Rs 3.95 lakh missing from the house, he said.
She informed the police, who rushed to the spot and sent the body for post-mortem.
Offences have been registered in connection with the case under sections 302 (murder), 449 (house-trespass in order to commit offence), 392 (robbery) and 394 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC, police said, adding that a manhunt has been launched to nab the culprit.
